Convoluted
by Juls2820
Summary: Life can take many turns and things you feel like you know, are absolutely certain about, can change. Sometimes things we don't know can hurt us, and sometimes they hurt us because we don't know what we are missing. This is a story about a few people discovering that not everything in life has to be status quo to make you happy. AU; AH; WARNING** Poly and adult content
1. Prologue

**_AN:_**

 _This note is long, the others won't be if there are any notes at all._

 _I used to love to write, but I haven't written anything in a very long time. This is an exercise of my imagination for the fun of it. I don't know if anyone will read this, and I don't know if anyone other than me will get anything out of this. I'm not a writer, it is not my profession and it never will be, but I do like to let my imagination run away with me and this is a product of that. That said, anyone who does read this, keep the hate to yourself._ _I know this will not appeal to everyone, if anyone at all, and I know there will be mistakes so no need to state the obvious or the known, kay. If you spot a mistake and point it out to me I'll try to correct it, but as I've never posted anything before I may suck at trying to correct already posted "chapters"._

 _I'm not sure exactly how long this will end up being, and this is not how the rest of the story will be, but I didn't want to spend a ton of time laying out the foundation for their history at the beginning in story format. So, I decided to use a summary narration to provide enough detail to allow anyone who reads this story to understand the basis for the characters. Some details are more important than others to the story, but they all matter and it's up to anyone who reads this to ultimately take what they want from this._

 _Okay, last disclaimer and notification. I do not own any portion of the Mortal Instruments series or characters. I love the stories and could never live up to Cassie's reputation so take all that follows as intended_ _fanfiction_ _._

 _Last but not least, this will be a poly story in the end, if you don't like that don't read it. Do not leave me any feedback saying how wrong you think it is or questioning my morals blah, blah, blah. I don't care what anyone's opinion of me as a person is, so it will have zero impact and be a waste of your time and energy. That doesn't mean I wish to offend anyone, I don't but this is my personal imaginings and if you don't like my fantasy world, get out and find another or create your own. The poly relationship will be Jace/Clary/Alec in the end. I hate blowing the plot in this note but I know some may find that offensive, so you've been warned. If you don't like a bi Alec or Jace do not read this story because you will be let down. I am not trying to change anyone's perception of Alec from TMI this is just how I imagine the character and the only parallel to the original is the appearance of the characters (somewhat), some minor history, and that Alec is in what some people (mostly narrow minded people) would call a non-traditional relationship. If for any reason you can't handle that you should leave now. As I said earlier I don't want to offend anyone, but this is my imagined world. Last bit of the notification I don't know the full plot to this story, it's not fully mapped in my imagination yet. There will be lots of cussing, some partying, possible lemons (not sure how graphic or detailed for obvious reasons) and the updates will happen as frequently as my life and imagination allow. No set schedule in other words._

 _Kay, now all the warnings and disclaimer stuff is over I hope anyone who reads this enjoys it. If not, I hope you do find something you enjoy reading on this site. If you want to leave a comment or suggestion please feel free, I would love to hear from anyone who is reading it and will try to respond to any non-hate messages. If it's a hate message, we'll go ahead and agree to disagree now and leave it at that._

 _ **Prologue:**_

For as long as he could recall in every important instance and treasured memory there was one person who had always been there, either sharing his joy or helping shoulder the pain, Clary. They had grown up together, had lived their lives more closely entwined then most twins. No, she wasn't biologically his family; she was something even more rare, chosen family. No matter what had befell him in his life he had always had one sure thing, Clary would be there in whatever capacity he needed. Friends like that are a gift few people ever experienced, he guessed that was God's way of evening out the balance of his life.

You see, Alec was a gay man from a broken home of a powerful family. His father, Robert Lightwood, was a senator who'd grown up in a rigid and unloving home that believed in not sparing the rod. His family came from a long line of deeply religious men who were pillars of their communities, but aloof with their families. He guessed that was the price they'd been willing to pay for the power they wielded. So much of their time was spent worrying for appearances and presenting the image necessary, that they become emotionally stunted and disconnected from things like love and acceptance. Robert was no exception to the family legacy, in fact some might say he took it far more seriously and advanced that dogma. Alec couldn't recall a single event in his life where his father had shown up and stayed; birthday parties, Christmas celebrations, school plays, sports competitions, graduations Robert missed them all. On the few occasions where he showed up at all he was late stayed on his phone the whole time, and left early. There were never bed time stories, encouraging words, or even a hug that wasn't for PR strategies. Everyone in their family had accepted that he was not going to be a part of their daily lives and tried to make the best of the situation. Unfortunately Robert didn't share this same philosophy.

Alec knew he was different from the time he was very young. His mom made play dates for him with the neighborhood boys from the time he was able to walk, and Alec always seemed to lose interest in playing the rough and tumble games faster than the other boys. He didn't want to play army men and act out wars in the backyards, he never felt comfortable pretending to shoot and blow up his playmates.

When he had his first play-date with the boy next door, Jonathan Morgenstern, he ended up playing with Jon's younger sister for the majority of the day. It wasn't love at first sight, as a matter of fact Alec thought she was bossy and a little mean for the first little while. Then Jon and his other friend Sebastian, decided to play army men and when Alec said he didn't want to join, they started teasing him and calling him names. Clary was sitting off to the side watching the boys and drawing on the patio with colorful chalk, but when the boys upset Alec enough that he turned away to hide the tears in his eyes Clary jumped in to help. She grabbed the soccer ball laying off to the side and ran over to the other boys and told them they needed to have their rematch while there was an even number. The boys resisted and Clary told them it was fine if they were scared to lose to her and Alec she would just call victory and eat all the ice cream treats with him as their reward. Somehow even as young as they were, and on their first real meeting, Clary knew that Alec would rather play sports and that the older boys would cave to teasing from a girl. She had been his best friend ever since that day. She just always seemed to know what he needed, even before he did at times.

They grew up having sleep overs, and spending every free minute together. Each brought something out in the other in ways no one else could. Clary made Alec more brave and fearless, and he softened her temper and kept her from retreating into her own artistic mind too much. Alec got Clary to play more sports and she taught him to express himself with music, literature, and even the occasional painting foray. Granted most of Alec's attempts would be considered splash art at best, but he did feel better after lashing out at a canvas sometimes, even though he still felt it was silly at times.

The funny part of their relationship was that neither was an only child, Alec had Izzy his younger sister by two years, and Clary had Jon her older brother by eleven months but somehow they both felt closer to each other than their own siblings. For Alec it was that he was only six months older than Clary so she was in the same grade with him, and they shared all of those firsts and were both a little unusual compared to others. Clary on the other hand, started school at the same time as Jon, but Jon's interests were narrower than hers always. When they were little she played with the boys and did all of the same things they did, but they never were interested in art or playing games that required more planning than counting down to attack. Alec and Clary could spend a whole day climbing trees and talking about creatures they imagined lived in the forest behind their manicured lawns, and then jump into a pick-up basketball game with the rest of the boys. And for a while they had a large group of friends that all hung out together daily.

As the years passed, the gap between Alec, Clary, and Jon's little gang, as Clary loved to call it, widened. They all still hung out at times, and Alec and Clary both participated in various sports growing up which Jon and his group of friends either participated in too or they cheered each other on at least. In high school the divide became its widest yet for Alec, not because the other boys shunned him or because he stopped playing sports, Alec just finally admitted something that made him unique amongst his peers; Alec was gay. None of the other guys had an issue with his coming out, but most of their conversations were about sports and sex, and Alec was only ever interested in participating in the sports talk occasionally. So, inevitably when the group would start to breakdown into smaller groups or conversations Alec found the only person he really could talk to or truly enjoy his time with was Clary.

Figuring out he was gay wasn't hard for Alec, he knew by the time he was in fifth grade. All the other boys and girls were talking about 'going-out' with someone or kissing someone on the playground, and Alec realized the only person he ever felt the urge to kiss was Jon ironically. Not that he ever told Jon that, but somehow Clary seemed to know as usual. She didn't say anything to Alec about until the eighth grade Sadie Hawkins dance, and Alec firmly believes she wouldn't have then either if it wasn't for Aline and Kaelie deciding that they were going to make a play for the gorgeous blue-eyed boy none of their peers had ever been able to land. Clary showed up in a near panic at Alec's locker at lunch and grabbed his wrist and dragged him into a storage closet. Alec was used to her being a little odd at times so he went along willingly enough until they had been in their for ten minutes with Clary's ear pressed to the door and no explanation. She tried to act as though she was hiding from Seelie's pestering about Jon, but right as she was really trying to sell the story Kaelie and Aline walked by talking rather loudly about where Alec could be, and accusing each of sabotaging their chance. Alec looked at Clary stunned for a moment, because she had never truly lied to him, and then her cheeks burned red and Alec knew something more was going on. After storming out on her she finally caught up with him on the sidewalk outside the school and confessed that she was sorry, but she didn't want them confronting him or starting any rumors. Alec froze when she said that, and when he turned around to face his best friend she had tears in her eyes, and he knew that somehow she had figured out his secret and was trying to protect him like she always had. That was the moment when he knew he would love her forever, she didn't care what he was and she loved him enough to live with him keeping something huge from her for years without ever having a seconds thought. Of course she had to resort to her old bossy mean ways and call him an idiot for thinking she would ever care who he wanted to kiss, he only wished that all of his family was accepting as her. Of course he knew better than to really hold out hope for that, his dad was not a flexible man in any sense of the word.

Clary teased him over the years about his ongoing crush on Jon until junior year, when Alec finally found enough courage to tell his family he was gay. She insisted on holding his hand while he did, and although he would never admit it he was fiercely grateful that she wouldn't back down on this demand for when he finally got the words out of his mouth his mother froze and his dad bellowed that Alec was 'no son of his, and to leave his house immediately'. If looks could kill Alec was convinced that the police would have been called to his family home for a triple homicide, because his dad looked at him as if he truly wished he were dead and Clary glared at his mom and dad with more rage then he ever thought her smaller frame could contain, and for Clary's red hot temper that is a true testament to her devotion to Alec. When he fled the house Clary kept holding onto his hand the whole way back to her bedroom, and that was the only thing that tethered Alec to the world. She acted as a shield and a bouncer for the next month and kept everyone at bay, she let him share her bed and her bedroom, and she offered love and support every time he felt like he was going to break.

Alec would probably have stayed until graduation had it not been for the bombshell that rocked his family a month later his dad's son Kieran, from an illicit affair showed up on the doorstep asking to see his 'bio dad'. The boy was only a little more than a year younger than Alec and that was when his mom finally had enough. Apparently she'd known that Robert had an affair shortly after they lost their youngest son Max, but he had managed to convince Maryse that it was a one-time thing and that it would never happen again. Being confronted by his own misdeeds didn't seem to make Robert any more feeling as he out right rejected the possibility of the boy being his in front of nearly the whole street of neighbors. Ultimately though Robert had proven himself more lax in his morals rather than squashing the possibility of infidelity, because Kieran came with physical evidence of the love affair and was requesting DNA for testing. After brandishing the letter written by Robert himself breaking off the affair and numerous pictures of Robert and another woman, Maryse marched into the house grabbed a ziplock bag tossing in Robert's tooth brush, hair brush, razor, and then snatching a chunk of hair off his head herself and handing it over to Kieran. She then tossed Robert his cell phone and advised him to call a cab and an attorney.

It took nearly a year for the publicized divorce to finalize and longer than that for Alec to even be able to look his mother in the face. She didn't vocalize any issue with Alec being gay, but she surely didn't vocalize any support either. He didn't really know what he expected from her considering she was a fairly stoic woman, you pretty much had to be in order to survive a marriage to a Lightwood man, but he had hoped that at the very least she would have stopped his dad from throwing him out of the house. When she failed to come through for Alec he realized he'd never felt more alienated or alone in his life, his circle of family had shrunk to his then nearly fifteen year old sister and Clary. Of course Luke and Jocelyn, Clary's parents, tried to convince him to give her a chance and talk to her about it, but Alec couldn't bring himself to do it. His family had been through so much in recent years, the death of his younger brother due to cancer and his father's cheating seemed to be the thing that broke them all. Alec knew he had to be there for his sister, and even his mom, and he couldn't do that if they talked about how she had abandoned him. He wouldn't be able to swallow the hurt and anger if he allowed it to come to the surface.

So the broken home he once felt safe in barely survived his last couple years of high school and Alec was torn about running as far away as possible for college or staying close for at least his sister's benefit. The decision became easier when he knew that both Clary and Jon were attending NYU and that they had already been gifted with an apartment in the city close enough to walk to classes and Clary insisted that if he wanted to attend NYU she wouldn't let him live anywhere but with her. Given as much turmoil as his entire high school career and been embroiled in he welcomed the chance to go to college with the only constant in his life, his best friend. The bonus of all of this was he would be about an hour's drive from home, close enough to be there for his sister as much as needed but far enough away that he was unlikely to run into his mother or father routinely. As their senior wrapped up Alec received his acceptance letter for NYU and they planned their exciting move into the city with elation.


	2. Chapter 1

_**AN:**_

 _Into the story now, it will mostly be in first person and from Alec's POV especially in the earlier chapters._

 _'June 2015 – High School Senior Year'_

 _ **Chapter 1:**_

"Can you believe we only have five more days till graduation?" I looked up from my laptop at my crazy best friend and rolled my eyes, "Clare, of course I can believe it. I'm ready to move on and finally get away from my mom and that house, so I'm counting down the seconds and of course that makes me acutely aware of my remaining sentence in the fifth circle of hell!" Clare giggled and shoved my laptop with her foot she had draped over my lap. "Come on Alec, not everything that happened here was bad!" "Please Clare, you're the one who started calling it the fifth circle in the first place." Another giggle and an eye roll was her only response, then came the sigh. I knew that sigh, was intimately familiar with what it meant, she was about to start in with her nostalgic sentimentality. Don't get me wrong I love my best friend, and would happily die for her if necessary, but I'd rather kill her then go down this same rabbit hole for the millionth time. I know she meant well, Clare couldn't stand to see me hurting, but what she was refusing to accept was I really am okay with everything finally.

"Look Clare, we don't need to do this okay? My dad's an asshole, a first rate politician and I've made peace with it. I'm glad that we are leaving soon and I'm even glad that everything happened the way it has, because now I don't have to wonder you know?" I could see the doubt written all over her pretty face, her eyes were scanning me like an x-ray looking for any sign of distress so I put on a huge smile and winked at her. Finally she lowered her eyes and blew out an exasperated breath, letting me know that I had won this round. Deciding to take my victory and change the subject before her argumentative nature won out, I slid my laptop to the middle of the foot of her big canopy bed and flopped over onto my elbow beside her. Looking up at my best friend I knew she loved me enough to make up for all the other people in my life who should have loved me, and that was the only reason why she kept bringing up the 'closing of this chapter' in our lives. She worried that I was burying my pain, like I normally do, but I truly was feeling relieved and nothing more right now. She reached out to brush my black hair out of eyes and kissed my forehead, and I knew if I didn't pull her into some type of distraction she was about to start up again.

"So, I just looked up the subway schedule and if we wanted to we could drive to the train station this weekend and then take the subway over to this new club near the apartment. We could celebrate graduation, just the two of us, and then spend the night at the apartment with no rents'." I paused to see if she was taking the bait to change the subject, and just like always she gave me exactly what I needed. "That could be fun, but do you think we should invite Jon too? I don't think he'd take us up on the offer to hang out with us, but at least this way if he finds out later he can be all bitchy cause we left him out of the 'first' night at the apartment." "Are you crazy Clare, of course your brother will want to go to a club!" She rolled her eyes again, I swear she's going for a record this week of the most eye rolls by a single person. "Alec, geez have you learned nothing about Jon over the years? Of course he would want to go to a club, but since when does my brother ask questions about our plans when we offer to let him 'hang out with us'?" I blinked and realized what she meant, "Oh, so you're going to manipulate the poor bastard and just ask him if he wants to 'hang out' with us?" "Yep, who needs the big ass tagging along, he'll just get drunk and start a fight with some poor girls boyfriend and ruin all of our fun." She had a point, Jon had decided he was God's gift to the whole of mankind at some point in our sophomore year, and no one could convince him that everyone wasn't in love with him. He stubbornly insisted that everyone was at least a little in love with him, gotta love the Morgenstern stubborn streak. At least with Clary she didn't cling to asinine arrogance, although her stubborn streak could be just as unrealistic and unrelenting at times. "So, what day were you thinking you'd want to do this? Friday, after school lets out, or wait till after graduation on Saturday?" "Alec, you know that my mom has planned a huge graduation party Saturday night for all three of us. She's been alternating between weeping and laughing giddily for the past week while badgering us to choose crap for the stupid thing. I'm seriously contemplating buying her some street valium at this point. If we missed the party we would have to go into witness protection in another country to survive her wraith, and even then I doubt we'd ever see thirty."

I rolled over onto my back and stared up at the empty canopy which allowed you to see the photos decorating the ceiling of Clary's bedroom. The photo from senior prom of me, Clary, and her mom was crammed between the last bare strip of ceiling and the trim. Jocelyn Morgenstern Garroway was a force to be reckoned with and shared more than a passing resemblance with her daughter, they both had dark crimson curls, bright emerald eyes, fair skin, and heart shaped faces. It sometimes felt like glimpsing into Clary's future when I looked at Jocelyn, at least she knew she would still be beautiful when she passed forty. The similarities between the two didn't end with the physical, they were both very intelligent women, naturally gifted artistically, and fierce. Which is why the past two weeks have been most unsettling. Jocelyn really had been alternating between rejoicing that we had 'made it', and distressing that we were 'all grown up'. It was scary watching such a strong woman start weeping seemingly for no reason at all, but it was heartwarming too because she loved so completely and she included me as part of both her pride and pain. At least there was a mom somewhere who felt 'motherly' towards me.

"Yeah, we'd better not mess with mama bear. Lord knows she's not scared to physically attack us but the emotional ammo from that would last a life time with your mom." Clary nodded along, and flopped back on top of me yawning. It was so hilarious that we were teenagers about to start college soon, hell be living on our own soon and Clary still liked to take naps. I couldn't help but chuckle as I asked her if she was ever going to stop using me as a pillow for her nap time. Another damn eye roll followed up with, "Shut up, pillows aren't supposed to be so damn noisy. Put a movie on and cuddle me, I'm exhausted from all of those pointless exams we just had to suffer through!" "Fine, fine…what are you in the mood to watch?" She actually whined, "Allleec, you know what I like to go to sleep to….why are you being such a pain in the ass, just play the damn movie and cuddle me." She smacked my chest when I couldn't hold the laughter in anymore and her head started shaking, I can't help it it's too much fun to tease her when she's sleepy. I've got enough video blackmail on my phone of her whining like a two year old to make her my slave for the rest of our natural lives, I'll never use it but really it's just damn funny to see my normally supremely mature BFF acting like she lost her binkie. When I finally stopped laughing she had her bottom lip puckered out and her arms crossed over her chest giving me the evil eye, which of course almost made me lose my shit again. I composed myself enough to pick up my phone and pull up Netflix and cast the first Disney movie I saw to her TV. She turned on her side and wrapped her arm around me and passed out before the first opening song of ' _Anastasia_ ' ended. I pulled my arms around her and snuggled up to my favorite person and could feel the stress of the upcoming week skittering away from my conscious mind. For as long as my memories can recall this has always been the safest place to me, Clare, wherever she is has always been my comfort. I inhaled the soft scent of her honey vanilla potpourri scented room and the softer sweet scent of Clare herself and felt my eyelids drooping. My last thought just as a slipped off was for how soft and warm her bed felt, and how I wished this next week would be over when I woke.


	3. Chapter 2

**_AN:_**

 _Okay, this one is a bit of a beast; nearly seven thousand words. I probably won't do too many updates that are this long, but I wanted to finish setting the foundation for the story. The paragraphs are not set up the way they would be in a regular story, but I've read a lot on fanfiction and I've noticed that if the chapter is too long, it's difficult to read._

 _Disclaimer: I do not own any portion of the Mortal Instruments series or characters. I love the stories and could never live up to Cassie's reputation so take all that follows as intended_ _fanfiction_ _._

 _This probably wouldn't have been posted for a week, but I got two really sweet reviews and I honestly wasn't expecting that. So this is for EmaRose and Rizura. Thank you for the kind words and I hope you enjoy the new update.  
_

 ** _Sorry, not a new update, I noticed a few glaring typos and my OCD demanded it be corrected._**

 ** _Chapter 2:_**

I woke up slowly at first and tried to take a deep breath, that's when I realized I had a face full of wild curls. As frustrating as a face full, and mouth full of hair is I could only blow the hair away and smile. I've been waking up like this most of my life, and even though Clare is a blanket hog I've got to say it's nice to wake up with someone who's holding you like you're precious to them.

When I blinked my eyes open I was trying to figure out what time it was, for that matter what day it was, I felt entirely too well rested to have only slept for a short while. I rolled my head to the side to look out Clare's huge bedroom window and saw that it was still dark outside which was no help at all.

Trying not to disturb the gremlin wrapped around me, I stretched my arm back to feel around for my phone. Just as my fingers brushed up against the cool hard surface she started mumbling in her sleep. I paused for a second to listen because Clare is the type of person who will share anything with me, but she's always so focused on taking care of others that sometimes she fails to really take note of the things that are important to her. "Mmmm mooom no, can't wear that….fine for the graduation…no one at the party would….mmmm yeah." I tried to laugh quietly without rousting her, but the more I tried the worse the shaking became. I couldn't believe her stress right now centered on her mom trying to dress her for graduation, but I probably should have guessed, Clare's always been an honest person and she has a tendency to say whatever she thinks when she thinks it.

Her mom stopped trying to dress Clary the first week of Kindergarten cause it just wasn't worth the fighting, she's always hated feeling like she's being controlled and with Clare just about everything is controlling, so the idea that her mom wants to pick out a graduation outfit for her is probably driving her crazy. Another part of her personality is at war with her independent nature, her desire to take care of the people she loves. I know she'll end up wearing what Jocelyn wants, cause she's horrible at denying loved ones, but I also know that there will end up being a compromise.

Damn, I completely forgot about the time. I finally gave up on trying to let Clare sleep and just rolled over and grabbed the phone. After a bit of huffing and grumbling behind me, "What time is it Alec?" "I don't know yet, I'm waiting on my phone to turn on it must have died while we were sleeping." "What, how long were we asleep?" "Really, didn't I just say….you know what we slept for a day and a half." She shrieked and rolled right off the bed, much to my amusement, and popped up already sprinting for her bathroom. "Oh my God Alec, that means we missed the stupid required graduation practice…..they can't really make us give a speech to the entire class for missing it, can they?"

Our lovely principle Starkweather warned everyone missing a single day of school this week meant that you would have to give a speech about responsibility to the entire student body over the intercom during morning announcements. I guess the old guy got tired of seniors treating the last week like one big goodbye party and waltzing in and out of school when they felt like it. He threatened to change any non-compliant students English grades to a zero if they failed to perform, according to the guy who walked around with the giant stick shoved up his….never mind, public speaking would fall nicely under our English curriculum and 'since flogging was no longer allowed' it was the best he could come up with.

Seeing the panic in Clary's eyes I decided to roll across her bed and grab her phone off the floor. When the display lit up it was very early morning Monday, our last Monday of high school. "Calm down Clare, it's just after four Monday morning. We didn't miss anything so you can stop running around like the tasmanian devil, kay." She popped her head out of her bathroom and scowled at me. "Alexandar Gideon Lightwood, if you do that to me again so help me…" she then waltzed out of the bathroom in her tank top and boy shorts. I'm guessing she was stripping while heading for the shower, and of course now she's going to be lazy and not put her pajama pants back on.

I rolled my eyes, "it's not my fault your brain is incapable of waking up with the rest of you. If you'd listened, I'd already said I didn't know the time because my phone is dead. And put some clothes on." She laughed and launched herself onto the bed, still in nothing but her tank top and underwear. "This is what happens when we lie Alec, we create our own worst nightmares. Oh god the horror, semi naked girl! Alec shield your eyes, save yourself!" "Har har, Clare. Seriously, put on some damn clothes the last time your brother walked in on you and me in any state of undress he nearly had an aneurism. Then he told me to 'sleep with one eye open' the freak." "Yeah, he doesn't quite understand how the sexuality thing works. I wonder what he was doing in health class during sex ed." "Jon and Seb probably thought sex ed meant they were supposed to go find a person to teach them how to have sex."

She chuckled and slapped my arm, "eww Alec, that's my brother. I can't think about him and sex, that's just disgusting." "You brought up sex ed, I just gave a valid hypothesis on why he got a D and still thinks he has to 'keep an eye on me'." Clare broke out into a fit of giggles clutching her stomach, I glanced over at my best friend and not for the first time, thought about how truly beautiful she is. Not just physically, she's funny and smart, and she's got one of the best hearts I've ever known. I'm lucky that she chose me to share all of that with, she doesn't let just anyone close, but those she does she loves completely and with abandon.

"Hey what do you say we get up and make your mom breakfast? If we butter her up maybe she'll forego the stroke when we ask about going into the city Friday?" "Oh, I completely forgot about that. We've got to finish planning our BFF escape, but I don't think we need to butter up mom, she knows it's inevitable that we are leaving. She's always been very relaxed about the rules anyway. I mean this is the same lady that told us it was okay to go to parties and if we drank to call her for a ride, no repercussions." "I know she lets us have a lot of freedom Clare, but we're asking to go to the city. You know, the place that is 'stealing her babies'. Her words, not mine. I'm thinking she might be a little resistant." "Fine, you go ahead and get started and I'll be there in a minute." "Ha, you think I don't know what that means? You are not rolling over and going back to sleep Clare."

I gave her my best stern and serious expression, and yep you guessed it, she rolled her eyes. "If there was ever a person who had to worry about their eyes getting 'stuck like that' it's you. You kind of remind me of a slot machine the way you roll those around so much." "So funny Alec, hi-lar-ious." "No seriously, I have to suppress the urge to give your ear a tug and start chanting 'come on jackpot'." Barely containing a smile she asked, "You are such an ass, why are we best friends again?" I couldn't help grinning while I replied, "Cause you follow me around everywhere, I just can't seem to shake you off. I mean I've had to start locking the bathroom door just to make sure you don't follow me." "That happened once Alec, let it go!"

She had turned a soft pink color, no doubt remembering the time she followed me all the way into the boys bathroom chatting about how frustrating Starkweather was our freshmen year. She dragged herself off the bed while I chuckled thinking about how embarrassed she was when she finally looked up to see a couple of boys at urinals. She covered her eyes and tried to run out of the bathroom without looking and successfully ran face first into Seb as he walked in, needless to say her one and only voyeurism was not forgotten and she may hate being reminded of it, but even she laughs about it.

That's just who she is, single minded pursuit sometimes goes with the package. From my spot on her bed I watched as she picked up a pair of yoga pants tossed over her desk chair and hopped towards the bathroom while trying to put her pants on, another part of the package was her constant impatience.

Propping myself up on my elbow I noticed her mumbling as she stomped her way towards the vanity and yanked her toothbrush out of the holder, Clare's not a morning person and she really doesn't tolerate others sleeping when she is already awake so I'm sure this mini tantrum was her finally realizing it's before sunrise and she's not going to be able to crawl back into bed. "Alec if you don't get your ass up in the next few seconds I'm going back to sleep, and kicking you out of my room so you can't." "Clare you do realize that I have a bed too, it's right next door. Not to mention there is a guest room here." She literally growled in response.

Life with Clare has always been like this, even the little stuff like waking up is fun with her around. She marches out of the bathroom, trying to keep her 'I'm pissed at you, don't mess with me' look on her face, but the affect was ruined by the toothpaste she had on the corner of her mouth. When I laughed she scowled at me, I got up and walked over and ducked my head down to her eye level. "Gremlin, you missed a spot." The angry look faded into confusion and then I gently wiped the toothpaste from her mouth. When I held up my finger to show her the toothpaste she shrugged. "So what, who am I trying to impress. At least I brushed my teeth, it's what four-ish in the morning. I don't do mornings."

Shaking my head with a smile, I walked into her bathroom and grabbed my toothbrush from the holder she knocked over during her tantrum. As I brushed my teeth I thought about how strange it would look to an outsider if they witnessed this. I've got almost as much stuff in Clare's room as I do my own next door. And really, I use everything at Clare's more frequently.

We kind of act like an old married couple sometimes, and most people would think we were a couple living together I imagine. I rarely think about this stuff, because it's just me and Clare, we've always been like this. We cuddle in bed, and we hold hands sometimes. When we part we always tell each other 'I love you', and when we come together again we hug. We walk around with my arm slung over her shoulders, and when we had sporting events to watch or assemblies at school Clare would lean her head on my shoulder or lay her head down in my lap.

The first time I realized how it might seem to an outsider was when Simon, my little sister's boyfriend asked me how long Clare and I had been together. It shocked me and for a moment I couldn't even form words to deny it. Izzy jumped in to rescue me and told Simon we were just 'besties since the diaper days and Alec's gay anyway he'd never look at Clary that way'. When she said that I nodded in agreement, but something felt wrong about it. I later realized it was just that I'd never really thought about how it looks to everyone around us. Not that I had, or ever will have, any intention of altering the way we are with each other. She's my one constant, and we love each other. Just not the way everyone else might think we do. Thankfully Clare has rubbed off me enough that I don't care what anyone else thinks. She's taught me to accept myself and to not let anyone else affect how I act or live my life. If they don't like the real me, that's their problem not mine.

I was jolted out of my inner monologue by Clare walking up behind me and leaning her forehead against my back between my shoulder blades. I swear this girl is the laziest person I've ever seen. She can't be bothered to even support her own body weight. I rinsed my mouth quickly, and turned around. I don't know if she can sleep standing up, but I didn't want to find out right now. "Come on lazy, lets go make some waffles. I need coffee and I know you do, you've been awake for a whole fifteen minutes." She gave me a sheepish smile and said, "I can't help it, blame my mom. She gave me my first cup of coffee at fifteen while I was studying for my first midterms and since then I've gotta have it." "Yeah I know, I was there. I tried to warn her that giving a hyper person coffee was a bad idea. She agreed with me after you started bouncing around in the chair."

I grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the stairs, she stumbled along behind me acting like the walking dead. Apparently I'm going to be doing all the prep work solo, cause she won't move any faster than a slough until she gets her first cup of coffee. I tried to take the steps quietly, we were on the third floor of the two story house, and both Jon's and her parents' doors are very close to the landing on the second floor; but the dead weight behind me was basically falling down the stairs jarring the pictures lining the stair well. "Can you stumble down the stairs a little softer Clare, we are supposed to be surprising your mom with breakfast? You sound like an elephant coming down the stairs and you only weigh a little more than a hundred pounds." She stuck her tongue out at me and said, "Hey you woke me up, now you have to deal with the consequences. I'm barely able to force my eyes to stay open right now, so just be thankful I haven't fallen over and taken us both out on the stairs."

As frustrated as I was, I knew there was some truth to what she was saying. Because she's bumped into me on almost every stair, and she looks like she's struggling. It's funny that she's a pretty amazing athlete, and usually has enough energy to bounce off the walls but all of that is after nine a.m. Between two a.m. and nine a.m. she could easily pass for one of the zombies from 'The Walking Dead'. I'm fairly sure a turtle with two legs is more coordinated and could best her in a race.

When we finally made it to the kitchen on the first floor Clare slumped over on the breakfast bar while I started the coffee. "Make sure that is the dark roast and add a little extra. If I'm going to pass for a human at this time of the day, I'm gonna need extra caffeine." "How about I warm up the expresso machine and make you some to add to your coffee. I can't drink the coffee if it's too strong. I'll be shaking like a leaf while I'm trying to use knives and shit." "That'll work, just make sure it's about half and half." I shook my head at her smiling, her caffeine dependency is ridiculous.

"I hope you didn't sign up for any early morning classes. It would save time to take that tuition money and just burn it cause you and I both know that if you ever made it to class you'd sleep through it." "Shit, you know I would never schedule a class for myself that had the words a.m. in the description. All of my classes are going to be in the afternoon. Well, except for this one art class it starts at eleven, but that was the only time it was offered." "Why, they usually have a few choices for each class?" "Well it's an advanced art class and the professor for this class runs her own studio in the city. She could only do early classes because of scheduling for her studio." "How did you find all of that out?" "Well she's agreed to be my advisor for the first year, so it came up when we were emailing each other over the last couple weeks figuring out my best options for my freshmen year classes." "I emailed my advisor listed in my account, he emailed me once and told me to let him know what classes I chose. How did you get to choose your advisor?" "Well she's one of the people who reviewed my entrance portfolio and she reached out to me to compliment a couple pieces. After talking to her about my portfolio I just asked her." "Hmm, maybe I'll look into changing my advisor." "You should if you're not comfortable with the one they assigned. Tess told me they have no problem with switching your advisor as long as the one you choose is teaching a class for your major."

Our conversation was interrupted by hissing from the expresso machine. I trailed over to the cabinets and grabbed one of the large ones for Clare and a regular mug for myself. Clare was watching me with an almost lusty look in her eyes. This girl loves her coffee a little too much. I barely got within reach of the breakfast bar and she practically lunged for her mug. Well if I ever needed to bribe her for anything at least it would be a cheap bribe, one heavily caffeinated beverage and she'd be putty in my hands. I chuckled and Clare looked at me over the rim of her mug while she gulped down the hot beverage. "What, what's so funny?" "I was just thinking that I could get you to do almost anything for a cup of coffee." "Nah, it'd have to be Starbucks flat white with four shots. Then yeah, I'd probably help you bury a body" she said with a grin and amused eyes. Another thing I love about her, her wicked sense of humor. Nothing is off limits, she just doesn't care if anyone else likes it. She's too honest to hold back.

"Any chance you're going to get off your ass and help?" "Geez, can't a girl drink a cup of coffee in peace before she has to perform manual labor." I sputtered, "Clare making breakfast does not count as manual labor. If we had to go collect the eggs, churn the butter, and ground the flour maybe. This isn't the eighteen hundreds." "If it involves me getting up before the sun and moving around in a productive manner it's manual labor buddy." It was hilarious how serious she was about this. "Clare when we move into the apartment completely your mom is not going to be making you breakfast anymore, and before you ask, no I will not make breakfast every day." She pouted at me, "Alec you wouldn't let me starve and waste away would you. I thought you loved me." I ignored her because if I looked at her puppy eyes I was going to be making breakfast for at least two for the next four years. Not gonna happen, nope.

Maybe I shouldn't have insisted she help. The kitchen was a mess, and making waffles, bacon, and eggs for everyone wasn't going to score us any points with the rents if they walked into this disaster. Somehow Clare had gotten flour and batter on every flat surface in the kitchen, and batter from the waffles all over the refrigerator. "How in the hell did you get batter on the fridge? I mean once you're to the stage that it's batter you don't need anything from the fridge Clare." "Oh, I grabbed some grape juice to drink. This was hard work, I got thirsty." "Clare, you poured the batter I made into the waffle iron and waited for it to beep, then you stacked them on a plate. What part of that overwhelmed you physically?" "The being up right now." "Fine, just help me wipe this up real quick. Your mom will be coming down any second now."

She grudgingly grabbed a sponge and started wiping down the surfaces while I swept the floor. Yep, she got flour all over the floor too. It was on her pant legs, her cheek, and a little bit was in her hair. "Why were you even messing in the flour to begin with, I made the batter?" "Oh I added some strawberries and had to add a little more flour and cream to balance it so it wasn't waffle dipped strawberries." "You could have told me you wanted strawberry waffles. I didn't think you would care if they were in the waffles or on top with whipped cream." "Oh I'm still going to put some on top of mine. I like waffle dipped strawberries. It's the rest of my weirdo family that insists you have to end up with more waffle than fruit."

As I dumped the last bit of the flour into the trash can Jocelyn appeared in the doorway. "Morning sweethearts. What would you like for breakfast?" She finally surveyed the table and noticed the prepared breakfast. "Oh you didn't have to do that. I'm the mom, I'm supposed to take care of you guys. But, it is really sweet of you. Damn it, I'm going to cry again." "We wanted to, you are always doing so much for us and we wanted to show you some appreciation. Right Clare?" "Hmmm, oh yep. We know that we aren't always little angels, and this moving to the city has been hard for you mom." "Lets not talk about that right now, I'm trying to enjoy the last vestiges of my denial. It's the only way I'm going to get through this week. Besides, we don't want to waste all of your efforts by me bursting into tears and being unable to eat anything." Poor Jocelyn, she's so much like Clary and us moving an hour away is going to be very hard for her. I know she's going to worry non-stop for a while about our safety. She's the consummate mama bear, even with me. So I decided I'm going to go with her request and ignore the elephant in the room, "Right, so coffee, orange juice?" "Coffee would be great, thank you Alec." "Go sit down mom, we'll bring the juice and coffee over for everyone."

Luke stumbled into the kitchen and didn't even notice the family all seated at the table. He started rummaging through the contents and Jocelyn had to call his name twice before he looked up. "Sorry honey, I haven't been getting much sleep for the last week and it's starting to show." He sighed and smiled at his wife before walking over and taking his seat. Once Luke was seated and had been served Clary and I started a silent argument with our eyes, each of us trying to get the other to broach the subject of us going to the city Friday.

By the time all of the plates were emptied Clary and I were still in our stale mate. Neither of us wanted to see the disappointed sad look on Jocelyn's face that would surely come once we asked to 'abandon' her the night before our graduation. Luke wiped his mouth and said, "Well that was great Jocelyn, thank you for a delicious breakfast." Jocelyn looked up from her second cup of coffee she'd been stirring her cream into and said, "I didn't make it. That was all Alec and Clary. Can you believe that Clary got up early enough to make waffles? I'm wondering when they're going to tell me what this breakfast costs." Luke eyed both of us carefully and I ducked my head trying to avoid being the one to make Jocelyn upset. "Hmmm, I see what you mean, they are acting suspiciously aren't they? I mean Clary hasn't even mentioned how she could still be sleeping, and that is her normal breakfast diatribe."

Well it was now or never, and just as I was about to take one for the team Clary put her slender hand on my arm and gave a gentle squeeze. Her way of saying it's okay, she was going to handle it. "So, Alec and I were thinking it might be fun to go out and celebrate graduation, just the two of us." Jocelyn gave her a cautious nod, silently asking for more details. "Well, we were thinking it would be nice for the two of us to go tour the campus and maybe go to a club in the city, then spend the night at the apartment to get a feel for what the city life will be like." Jocelyn smiled at us, but it was a little sad and her eyes definitely did not light up the way they normally do when she smiled, it was a forced smile for our benefit. "That makes sense, yeah I can understand wanting to give it a trial run. When were you thinking you'd like to do this?" "Umm, well we thought maybe we could leave right after school on Friday. We'd take the train into the city and be there by early evening."

Jocelyn seemed to choke on air for a second, and then her expression changed to another forced smile. "Well when would you get back home if you stayed overnight?" "We could be back anytime, we thought maybe early afternoon. I mean the graduation ceremony doesn't start until four thirty so we'd have plenty of time to get ready and head over to the school." "Sounds like you've got it planned out pretty well." Luke offered. Jocelyn didn't seem to be able to talk for a few minutes and then, "umm, well I think you should go and enjoy yourselves. It is your graduation after all, and you are both legally adults so I don't see the harm in it."

I looked at Jocelyn gratefully and knew that that had cost her dearly. She loves us so completely that the thought of us leaving is tearing her apart, even for me. She's always been more emotionally involved with me than my own parents, and she treats me as a son. She's supported me and tried to protect me for nearly my whole life. My dad may have missed everything, but since I was four Jocelyn has been there for every event, no matter how small or trivial the event there she was smiling and cheering me on. That has created a mother/child relationship between us over the years.

The first people I share good news with are Clary, Jocelyn, and Izzy. If I'm having a hard time Clary and Jocelyn are the ones who've helped me through it. Not many people would just go out and buy toiletries for their daughter's best friend when he shows up without notice and said daughter announces that he'll be living with them for the foreseeable future. But, that's exactly what happened when my dad renounced me as his son. Jocelyn hugged me first and told me, 'Alec you are loved, we love you and you will never lose that. Don't think about anything else just hold on to us, we will never let you go, you are part of our family'. She wiped a few tears from both of our faces and kissed my cheek then went out and bought me what I would need till we could collect some more of my things.

Going back home after living with the Morgenstern-Garroway's was difficult. Their house was definitely a home, and it always felt like my home. There was laughter and love in this house. We teased each other and helped each other. The conversations over meals flowed, there was never any real shouting or angry words, and there was never icy silence. That was what I had to go back to after my dad finally succeeded in dismantling our family. For the first while, Clary would come over and try to act as a buffer for me. Eventually though, I told her I loved her for trying to protect me, but I needed to face this alone for a while. Until we could find some kind of new normal at least. As soon as my mom stopped locking herself in her bedroom and stopped drinking three or more glasses of wine at dinner, I went back to spending most of my time with Clary and her family, my home.

I tried to get Izzy to come over here more with me, but she was so wrapped up in her new boyfriend, Simon, that she actually preferred staying with mom. I know why too, less supervision more freedom. Which forced me to have to have the big brother talk with Simon. Turns out he was a sweet kid, and a virgin thank God.

He assured me that they would not be moving into a physical relationship for a while. He had no previous experience and he wanted to wait until they were both comfortable with each other and in love. Another relief for my horribly stressed out mind. I don't know why, but I trusted the kid. Now they are both sixteen and have been together for over a year. They're in love and as long as my sister is happy, and they are being careful I'll stay out of their way.

I know Izzy has to make her own way too, and me hovering would not help. She got a shit deal when it comes to family, but she seems to be taking it in stride and living her life as happily as she can. There isn't much more I could ask for, she's a strong girl and now I know that when I leave for the city she won't fall apart because she was never that dependent on me. She knows though, that she can call me whenever and I'll be there for her.

Family is so complicated and messy, as evidenced by Jocelyn right now. She's got the full array of emotions rocking her right now, and it's all because she loves us and doesn't want to be separated from us. It's touching, but it's also gut wrenching guilt. She leaned over slightly and patted my shoulder and brushed the hair from my forehead. "Alec, it's okay you don't need to feel guilty about anything. This was coming no matter what we did, you guys had to grow up. I'm just trying to make the messy adjustment to letting go a little. It's no one's fault, and I'll get there eventually. Just don't move and never come _home_ again, and I'll be okay. I just want to stay in _all_ of my children's lives as much as possible. So go, have fun just be sure to call me and let me know you two are okay. Now, get up give me a hug and get ready for your last Monday of high school."

It was amazing how much lighter I felt from hearing that, and I'll admit I got a little misty eyed when she referred to me as one of her children. This is the woman who created my best friend though, so I shouldn't have expected anything less. I got up and hugged my surrogate mom, she kissed my cheek and gave me another squeeze before she released me. "I love you, and don't ever forget that I may not be biologically your mom, and I'd never try to take her place, but you will always have a proud mother who loves you." A tear spilled from her bright emerald eyes, and I hugged her a little tighter. Then I let go and very nearly ran upstairs so I didn't breakdown call off the trip and promise to never leave the house.

When Clary came trudging in the door she looked like she was either about to cry, or had already cried a little. When I asked her what was wrong she groused, 'nothing'. After she had taken her shower and gotten dressed for school she finally looked me in the eyes and I could see the conflict written all over her pretty face.

"Okay Clare, just tell me what's wrong. We can't fix it if we don't talk about it." That was what she usually told me when I was holding something in, she gave me a half ass glare and then, "I don't know Alec. Seeing my mom so sad got to me. I still want to go on the trip, because like she said no matter what we have grown up and we'll be leaving permanently soon enough so the trip will help give me an idea of what to expect."

"Oh Clare, you know that's not how life works. This trial run is while were still in high school and basically on summer break, so it won't compare to living in the apartment full time and having the stress of college courses." "Alright I'll admit it, it's a trial run to see how my mom and I handle it. To see if I can relax in that apartment, get comfortable enough to be able to call it home instead of 'the apartment'." "Works for me Clare, you know I would never judge you for missing your mom. Hell, I'm gonna miss her every day. She's a great mother and we have both been very lucky to grow up with her in our lives." Clary gave me a watery grateful smile, she should know that I understand the difficulties in leaving home. This place is, and probably always will be, the place I think of whenever I say home.

Jon came barreling into Clary's room and bellowed, "Let's go get this day over with. I can't wait for college, frat parties are the best." He grinned like the Cheshire cat and reached out to ruffle Clary's hair. She promptly swatted his hand away, "Jon mess with my hair and you are going to wake up tomorrow and find that your beloved platinum hair is pink!" Jon recoiled with a horrified look on his face. "You wouldn't dare touch the hair! Look, I know your jealous cause I got the straight blond hair from dad and you got that wild mess, but to mess with the hair is a crime against humanity. I mean look at me, my hazel eyes and blond hair are what draws the ladies. Pink! I mean if anyone could pull it off it would be me, but pink?"

At this point I was ready to grab a razor and shave his head just to end this discussion. Jon is definitely a breed apart. He's attractive, but the problem is that he's insufferably cocky about it. He could be in honors classes if he ever actually tried, but he's content to coast through school and focus on his social calendar. Thankfully my crush died with his declaration that he was in fact God's gift to all man-kind in our sophomore year. I still checked him out covertly in our junior year, which is why Clary teased me relentlessly. The guy is cut like a Greek god, but I would rather saw off my foot with a rusty spoon then tell him that. He really didn't need any more encouragement to be cocky.

"Well keep your hands to yourself and you won't have to worry for your precious hair. Just remember that you sleep like the dead and I'm one flight of stairs away and we'll be good." I couldn't help but laugh at Jon as he honestly looked frightened by his little sister's threat. Jon is six foot two and is a running back on our high school football team. Clary, while being athletic, is only five foot five; she's curvier now that she's gotten a little older, but she still weighs in at just over a hundred pounds. She ran track and played soccer, so she's agile and fast, but Jon towers over her and he's still frightened of his little sister. Granted, if I'm being totally honest a pissed off Clary is scary no matter how big you are, but she'd never hurt someone she loved on purpose.

I decided it was time to make our exit, before Jon screwed around and ended up with pink hair. Not that I care if his hair gets dyed, but I'd probably have to murder him to end the whining and complaining that would follow. "Come on Morgensterns, you can threaten each other in the car on the way to school." I thought about their stubborn nature and the more than a decade of feuds I'd witnessed and decided it'd be best if I drove otherwise we might end up in a ditch somewhere. "I'll even drive guys, so you can focus on your fight."

I grabbed the keys to my car off Clary's dresser and headed down the stairs for the garage, the whole way down the stairs they were bickering, at least they kept moving forward. When we made it to the SUV Clary jumped into the front passenger seat and Jon looked at her like she had suddenly sprouted a second head. "What are you doing, I called shotgun Clare! This is what's wrong with society you can't ignore dibs, if you do that brings us one step closer to anarchy. Plus I'm almost a foot taller and my legs get squished. Come on Clary, don't be a bitch about it. I called it!"

"Look Jon, I'm sorry you don't want to sit in the back, but I called a permanent dibs on this seat. Alec has a permanent dibs on the front seat of my car." "That's bullshit, there is no permanent dibs Clare." "Yes there is, when the owner gives you permission to call permanent dibs. So shut up and get in the back and I'll let you stream your music through the car speakers." Jon finally relented and backed away enough to yank open the back door. "Hey easy on the car, it's an innocent third party." Jon grimaced and slumped down in the back seat. Apparently his loss over the front seat took the fight out of him. It might seem heartless, but I was grateful for the calm. The emotional rollercoaster over our private graduation celebration had worn me out. I could crawl in bed right now, and it felt like I could sleep until graduation right now.

Fortunately the weather was perfect today, so I cranked up the car and rolled the windows down letting in the fresh warm late spring air. The sky was still streaked with the purple, orange, and yellow from sunrise and the clouds were fluffy and white. Halsey and the Chainsmokers were blasting through the speakers and my cares melted away on the soft warm air. I glanced over at Clary and she was already looking at me with a brilliant smile. She winked at me and then started belting out the lyrics to Closer. She has a beautiful voice, and she gives me chills sometimes with her voice. Today however, she was half singing and half laughing. Her silliness was catching and without even realizing I was doing it, I started singing along and laughing every time she giggled. I looked at Jon in the rear view mirror and he just rolled his eyes and waved me off. Okay, I guess Jon isn't going to join in on our karaoke in the car.

As we rolled down the road laughing and singing I didn't have a care in the world. Hopefully this light and happy feeling would carry on into the school day, but I'm not going to think about that right now. I glanced back over at Clary and winked at her, she giggled and sung even louder in response. Have I mentioned how much I love my best friend? No one else could make a boring commute to school this much fun.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

High school hadn't been either the best or worst place to be for me, but then rarely do people have such an extreme view on their high school days. Like most people, there were good parts and some bad that happened while I traversed these halls. It wasn't easy to be the only openly gay student, and there were some people who didn't know me and assumed that my life was charmed because of who my family was, then there is always the pain of growing up in general and realizing the world is neither fair or just always. Of course the good parts of my experience outweighed the bad, so walking into the school was a little bittersweet today. Clary was beside me, which for me always made everything a little easier to bear. I glanced at her from the corner of my eye and noticed that she was smiling, clearly amused by something. I followed her line of sight and spotted Jon still pouting about riding in the back seat. For those who don't know, or who've failed to notice, my best friend has a bit of a wicked side at times. She would never take pleasure in someone else's pain if it were real, but pouting and self-pity have never been legitimate pain to her. And let's face it Jon could throw a tantrum with the best of them.

She turned towards me and grabbed my hand dragging me towards the double doors. "So, are you going to admit you're finally feeling a little nostalgic Alec?"

"I never denied feeling nostalgic Clare, I just said I was okay and glad to be moving. There is a difference between being nostalgic and being sorry to see something end. Reminiscing about the good times we had here is nostalgia, but I'll still be glad to move on and to plan for the future."

She gave me a sad smile, "Well I will be sad to see it end. I'm excited by the possibilities of our future, but who says you have to be one or the other. Endings are always both a little sad and a little happy to me, because whenever there is an ending there is also a new beginning. I refuse to limit myself to being either or, that's way too narrow minded for my tastes."

I couldn't help but laugh at her logic, she was right of course, you can be both. She's always been far wiser than her age would appear to allow, and she accepts the truth of her emotions and the changing of the world around her with an enviable grace. People like her see the world as it is, and for how it could be. Such a rare combination that I'd be surprised if I ever met another soul like hers.

She taught me how to accept myself, but I've never been as good at identifying what I'm feeling and knowing my own heart. I guess everyone leaves high school with a lot to work on though, otherwise there wouldn't be a need for university right?

As we turned off the main corridor towards the overly loud auditorium Clary grinned at me, and started practically vibrating with excitement. We could hear the teachers who presided over the senior graduation ceremony attempting to corral the more than one hundred graduating seniors into a semblance of an organized group. Clary and I fell into the rear of the haphazard line and waited for the commotion to ebb. Of course as soon as the senior class seemed to be calming down in walked Jon, apparently his spirits were soaring again because he decided to spread the excitement. "Come on let's get this show going! I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm ready to bail this dump." Jon bellowed with Seb laughing like a hyena behind him. Dear God, this was going to be a long damn week!

At lunch later that day, Jon had finally been released from the office and came to join our regular group of friends outside in the quad. When I looked up at his approach I choked and inhaled some of my soda, trying to laugh and ridicule at the same time I guess that was my instant karma check. Clary on the other hand shifted from smacking me on the back to rolling around on the grass practically rolling over everyone's laps. She was giggling so hard her face had turned bright red and I was convinced she was going to die of asphyxiation before she stood any chance of stopping. There were tears rolling down the sides of her face and all she could do was point. The rest of the group were recovering from the shock of her behavior and followed her finger, there standing in the quad for all of the world to see was Jon and Seb wearing matching dunce caps that were decorated like little princess caps from an old version of Mario Bros. They were quickly turning as brightly red as Clary while the rest of our group lost it. Jordan fell over clutching his side on top of Maia who was trying to maintain a little balance as he guffawed loudly. Kaelie, Jon's on again off again fling, was giggling and looking horrified at the same time. I think she was deeply concerned that Jon might try to get close to her looking like an idiot. Finally as Clary managed to free her phone from her back pocket and started taking black mail shots Jon stomped over trying to snatch her phone.

"What in the hell happened to you two?" I had to ask because it was obvious that they were being punished, and none of the rest of the group had regained the ability to control their limbs, much less actually ask a question. Jon glared at me, and slumped down against the tree, likely trying to hide behind the trunk.

I started laughing again once Clary wheezed out, "Who do I have to kiss for this, and how much would it cost me to keep it going for the rest of the week!?" Jon's murderous glare seemed to take on the precision of a sniper as he honed in on his sister's face, he flipped her off which only seemed to make matters worse.

"Jooon, I'm gonna piss myself….don't make it funnier", Clary squealed while clutching her stomach and trying to wipe the tears away from her eyes.

Jon crossed his arms and huffed out, "Whatever, Mom is going to pay when my autobiography comes out."

Putting it all together I looked at Jon through the haze of tears forming in my eyes, "Oh My God, I love Jocelyn so much right now!" Jon apparently didn't agree as he punched me in the shoulder. He looked over at Clary with steam practically rolling out of his nostrils and ears and shouted, "Hey, shut it or I'm gonna shave your head tonight!"

Finally some oxygen seemed to be reaching Clary's brain again and she tried to keep a straight face while asking them, "So, who um, who got creative with the punishment there boys?" Her attempted feign at concern was ruined by her breaking out into a new round of giggles.

"Okay, okay, hardy har har. Yes, it's freaking hilarious! The ass of a principal Starkweather called Mom about my 'disruptive and disrespectful' behavior this morning and she apparently decided it was time that I learned how 'embarrassing' my behavior was for her as a parent and for those that I quote 'inflicted my juvenile humor on at the most inappropriate times'." "Whatever, that shit was funny, all of my jokes are funny. This is just wrong!"

"Oh! Oh, he's Princess Peach from Mario Bros.!" Clary squealed with delight. "Look he's got the pretty pink sparkly princess cap, the platinum locks, and the rosy blush in his cheeks!"

That was, I guess, more than Jon was willing to take from his baby sis cause he suddenly jerked upwards jabbing Seb with his elbow as he rose and stomping off towards the main building without a single backwards glance. We didn't get the pleasure of seeing him in the halls again or even in last period we all shared. Later we heard from Jocelyn that he was so embarrassed that he finally caved and went back to the principal's office before the last period and begged forgiveness with the promise of angelic behavior for the remaining time he had to spend as a high school student. Starkweather allowed him to leave, deciding that the punishment was successful and that Jon and Seb had been enough of a distraction throughout the day.

As we sat around eating dinner teasing Jon and laughing about how brilliant Jocelyn was at punishment it occurred to me how much more complicated our lives were soon going to be. High school was coming to a close for all of us, and while I wouldn't miss the halls of our school I knew I'd miss this feeling of ease that had settled over us in the last few weeks. We were closing in on our goal, about to graduate and move forward with our lives which is exciting, but the euphoria of accomplishing this goal wouldn't be with us for too much longer and the real world was going to come crashing back in around us. I think that is why so many are feeling nostalgic, they want to savor this victory and enjoy their success for as long as possible. Looking back on all the struggles, good and bad, allows us to really revel in how far we have come, prolonging that euphoric feeling.

The next few days flew by, with lots of laughing and reliving 'good times', for the first couple of days. Towards the end of the final week, there were frequently tearful hugs being exchanged in the hallways, as expected. We were all feeling the end creep closer, the euphoria was slipping away and the reality of all the big changes on the horizon were setting in for the majority of our class. Through all of that Clary was at my side, and though she did become more emotional as we neared the true final bell, she seemed genuinely happy too. I had to reassure her several times along the way that I was still just as okay with the end of high school as I had claimed to be all along. Like I said, the most important and consistent part of my life was transitioning with me to the next phase, so really what did I have to be upset about? Now if we can all survive the celebrations and ceremonies it'll all be over. First things first, surviving the trip to the city with Clary tonight. Should be fun, right?


	5. Chapter 4

**AN: Sorry I've been absentee forever. Long story short, I have migraines and couldn't focus to read or write for a while. Since I've been such an absentee B*tch I'm posting two chapters. I'll try to do better on the updates going forward.**

 **BTW: Disclaimer (that I forgot last chapter oops!) I do not own the Mortal Instruments or anything associated with them, this is just me taking great characters for a spin in my crazy imagination. Enjoy, lol!**

 **Chapter 4:**

When the final bell rang on Friday I thought everyone was going to stampede out the front doors for summer break for the lower classmen, and freedom for the senior class, but it wasn't like that at all for the majority of the seniors. They were kind of lingering in the halls and classrooms in groups; chatting about graduation tomorrow, what party they were going to after, what school they were headed to if any, and how they were definitely going to stay in touch. For most of these people, I highly doubt they will ever see or speak to each other again outside of a high school reunion, but I guess everyone wants to leave on a good note. I can't help but roll my eyes and wonder if this went on last year with the graduating class. I don't remember seeing a bunch of people standing around after the final bell, but then again Clary was dragging me out of the school as fast as her short stature would allow. Now she's standing in front of her empty locker with a sharpie, hmm that might not be a good thing.

As I'm approaching her she turns and winks at me over her shoulder, she always has to do something unconventional at the end of anything of significance. Last year when her soccer team won the state championship she imitated Mia Hamm and yanked her jersey off and ran around the field in nothing but a sports bra on her upper body, but she really hammed it up, at least until she spotted her dad Luke turning purple with embarrassment. So now I've got to wonder why she's doing something as tame as 'graffiting' a locker door. Then I catch a glimpse of what she's actually doing and nearly have a heart attack after a shocked giggle escapes me, yes damn it I giggled in my moment of shock. It's a perfect representation of Principle Starkweather with a normal human face except he has donkey ears and the rest of his body is that of a donkey standing upright with a huge donkey ass turned toward the viewer and a caption that says 'what an ass'. For a moment I'm so shocked all I can do is laugh, then the wheels start turning and I realize she's going to end up in jail for defacement of public property. "Hey Clare, isn't it kind of stupid to tag your own locker? It's not like they won't know who the locker was issued to." She glares at me; okay maybe the statement would have been more effective if I wasn't still snickering. She whisper yells, "Alec, come on you know me better than that! I'm the queen of devious behavior. This is that skank Aline's locker. That bitch shouldn't have ran her mouth about you junior year, I've been waiting to do this since then cause you wouldn't let me trash her face with my fists!"

I'm shocked again, like I said my BFF is full of surprises always; but I feel obligated to point out, "damn Clare, that's a long time to hold a grudge. That shit didn't even matter considering the next week that jock on the basketball team told everyone she had 'the clap', nobody was talking about anything else for months." She narrows her eyes and informs me, "yeah, well nobody fucks with you without getting a little payback from me that's just the way it is!"

She's a ball of fire as always and you've got to be careful how you handle her just like any other hazardous materials. "Alright Clare, you've made your point and gotten a little revenge on both of them now let's get the hell out of here before someone sees us standing at the scene of the crime with the evidence in our hands." She beams at me and tosses the spent sharpie into the trash can and then links her arm through mine and takes off practically skipping down the hall, dragging me along. We reach the doors after wading through the crowd of former students waving their goodbyes and yelling to 'keep in touch', yeah right, sure. We hit the doors and we both take off running and laughing to her car, she's got a sexy as hell convertible Camaro, a compromise her mom made to keep her from getting the motorcycle she thought she wanted. The top's down and we pull out of the parking lot laughing with the wind blowing in our hair. This feels like the perfect way to end our high school career, just as we started it, together having fun and Clare getting into a bit of mischief.

As we pull up to her house we're going over what we need to grab before we head to the train station, well more like I'm reminding Clare. "Hey don't forget to grab your toothbrush, you are not using mine again, that's just nasty!" She cackles while bounding up the stairs to the door, she actually cackled, who does that? I can't help but chuckle as I walk through the door. Luke's sitting in the living room and glances up as we enter, while Clare tears through the house like a hurricane, I actually enter like a normal person. He's smiling while he asks, "So what evil is the little gremlin up to now?" "Hey, watch it I can still hear you when I'm on the stairs!" She really doesn't like my pet name for her evil alter ego. I take pity on Luke and redirect her attitude, "Yeah we know, we just don't care." I know I'm going to pay for that later, but she can never stay too mad at me, and her punishments for me usually involve a level of nudity and her taunting me, I can deal. Luke on the other hand might wake up with a new interesting hair cut. He gives me a grateful smile and asks, "So, are you guys heading straight out to the city?" "Yeah, we wanted to make it in time to get to the apartment and freshen up before we head out to grab a bite to eat and then hit the club." Luke nods along and says, "makes sense, do me a favor and at least text us the name of the club you're going to and let us know when you get in for the night, just so we know you are safe." I hum an affirmative and take off up the stairs to grab my bag and hurry Clare along.

When I get to her door she's standing there in her panties surveying two different dresses. Oh God, let the punishment begin. She hears me sigh and spins around with a confused look, "which dress do you think will look better on me for the club?" I can't help but whine, "Clare you know I'm bad at this shit, just pick one that's short and shows off a lot of cleavage and you'll fit right in." Her mouth drops open in shock, "Alec, that's just wrong. You know I don't give a shit about fitting in or really what anyone else thinks about me, but when I'm picking a dress I want it to look good on me in my opinion and feel good too. Since you are my best friend and have known me so long you are supposed to know my tastes and help me pick clothes that will compliment me while still feeling comfortable. Besides, aren't you supposed to be good with fashion, being gay and all?" She winks implying that last bit was a joke, and taking the sting out of that cliché discriminatory comment. Still I can't help but scowl at her and retaliate with a barb of my own, "whatever you say, but we gay 'fashion experts' don't usually dress midgets so I'm a little out of my element." She tries to scowl at me but ends up laughing and walking over to plant a kiss on my lips in apology. "I'm sorry Alec, you know I didn't mean it, it was a bitch move for the gremlin thing, forgive me?" I stand there with a stern face for all of three seconds but I can't stay mad at her, no matter how hard I try. So I end up giving her a soft smile while she wraps her nearly naked body around me in a fierce hug. She looks up at me with the most sincere face and tells me, "You know I could never live without you, right?" I can't help but smile widely at that statement because I feel the same way.

She turns back and grabs the dark green mini dress with a corseted top and form fitting skirt, great, I'm gonna be playing guard dog all night to keep all the 'dogs' away from her. She has no clue how attractive she is, and when dresses like that she could stop traffic. Men and women alike stop and stare with lust and desire written all over their faces, and because Clary is so naïve I end up having to chase away all the users and players. Well at least I know before we started drinking the liquor stashed at the apartment. She's finally ready to go, and has slipped back into some shorts and a tank top for the ride into the city. We grab our bags and run down the stairs so we won't miss our train and rush through some quick goodbyes to the rents' promising to text and call when we arrive. We're going to have to push the speed limit to make our train, but at least we'll be able to relax on the train for nearly an hour. I relax back into my seat as we are speeding along the road towards our future, listening to the wind whip around us and the radio blasting. Even with playing body guard, it's going to be a great night I think.


	6. Chapter 5

**AN: Well, I finished the editing faster than I thought and chapter 5 is ready! Thank you to the guest reviewer, I would have responded to the lovely review, but you can't message anyone not logged in. Next chapter is going to be consistent, with Alec's POV.**

 **Now, as mentioned there is a bit of citrus in this post. It's nothing heavy, but be aware there is language not suitable for young teenagers or children. This story is rated M, so it should be expected to be graphic, but I'm warning again anyway. I probably won't in the future, because I shouldn't really have to,** ** _M rating!_**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with the Mortal Instruments.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 5:**

We barely made it on the train, even with Clary blowing all the speed limit laws from her house to the train station. I didn't realize we were that late, after we took off and the radio was cranked up I was able to have a few minutes to relax and of course my mind starts going over the events of the day. Why can't we ever just sit and think of nothing? What is it about humans that makes us incapable of just letting our mind go blank and existing in the moment without reflection. Ugh, it's so damn frustrating.

As I was reflecting on my day, of course Clary featured prominently, she always does. But, this time it was a little more confusing I guess you could say, because I kept going back to our brief argument in her room. I mean the argument was settled almost as soon as it began, that's normal for us, but for some reason I can't quite define I'm still feeling unsettled. It must be that comment she made, I'm not mad at her anymore and we kissed and made up, literally, so it doesn't make sense that the scene is still floating around in my mind. That is going to drive me crazy if I focus on it too much, so while were claiming seats on the train and reclining to attempt to relax, I'm trying to put it out of my mind and think about the exciting night we're about to have.

Clary pushes the armrest down and scoots closer to me with a soft smile and leans her head on my shoulder. I put my arm around her and give her a gentle squeeze then lean my head on the top of hers. The same thing we always do when we're sitting around waiting for anything boring to end, assemblies, movies with the rents, etc. Her soft hair starts tickling my cheek, so I lean away and back onto the head rest. She's humming some old Paramore song, and her soft humming and the steady racket of the train lulls me to sleep.

Clary's laying curled up beside me in her sleep tank and boy shorts and I've got my arm around her when she suddenly shifts in her sleep and her ass is now in my lap, right against my dick. She starts wiggling to get comfortable and I start to feel myself coming alive with a twitch.

As she settles down and stops moving I'm disappointed so I start gently grinding against her soft perky ass. Before I can question what the hell I'm doing, I realize, I'm nearly fully hard now and she moans softly in her sleep. I put my arm around her waist and shift her closer while still rocking my hips in a rhythmic circle. God, it gets even better as she starts pushing back against me in time with my rocking.

Oh God, I think I might come in my pajamas it feels so good. I'm starting to grunt and don't want anyone to hear me so I tuck my face into her neck. Her skin is soft there and she's still softly moaning so I lean in further and experimentally drop a soft kiss to her neck. It must have felt as good to her as it did to me, because she's craning her head further away so I have more access.

I'm so close now, that I lean in and start sucking harshly against the soft skin of her neck. Apparently she woke up, because she's now stuttering out, "oh that feels so good, keep going, suck harder." I feel a little guilty because I know I'm about to have an orgasm and she's only getting foreplay, so I raise my eyes and look down her body while I tentatively slide my hand down her stomach and past her lace and cotton underwear. She seems to be okay with my plan because she lightly spread her thighs for me,

I have no clue what I'm doing, but I slide my fingers into her soft folds and she's really wet. This is so strange, I don't know why were doing this, or what I'm doing, but God it's feeling good. I slide my fingers back and forth and she grabs my hand and directs it to move in a tight circle. Her hips are bucking, and then she says, "Fuck it!" Clary suddenly turns over and flips so that she can free my erection and slide it into her mouth and I'm face to face with her panties. What the hell are we doing?!

I forget my concerns and can't help but growl when she first slides her mouth around my dick. I've never felt anyone touch me there and it feels amazing! Her mouth is so warm and wet, and I'm sliding deeper and deeper into her mouth. My hips are starting to buck forward, and I can't seem to control it. Again, I'm feeling guilty so I slide my hand back into her panties and experimentally slide a finger into her, she moans around my cock and damn that feels good so I slide another finger in and, yes she moaned again! Now, she's frantically sucking and licking me and I'm about to explode. "Ughh, Clary I'm gonna…"Bang! I snap awake and I'm still on the train, what the fuck was that?! I push Clary off of me a little rougher than necessary and jump out of my seat.

I'm freaking out here, I feel like I need to run the fuck off the train and get as far away from Clary as possible. That was the weirdest fucking dream I've ever had, correction weirdest nightmare. I can't even look her in the eyes. She's got a puzzled look on her face, "Alec what the hell is your problem? You look like you're about to have a panic attack or something. Did you have a bad dream or something?"

"Uh, yeah. It was horrible, and no, I don't want to talk about it. Ever!" I can't tell her about that dream, or that I'm freaking out now about spending the evening clubbing with her. God, what the hell is wrong with me? Is this because I've never had sex with anyone and my body is desperate for a real release? Yeah, that's got to be it. They say dreams are just a mix of all the stimuli from your day, so this is just my sexual frustration mixed up with the only person I've spent any time with today. Yeah, that's what it is; I'm freaking out over nothing. I mean lots of people have sex dreams about someone they would never have sex with, I know that is true. I've had that conversation with the guys and they've all been there before. And Clary is definitely not someone I would ever have sex with. I mean first and foremost she's a girl, so therefore she's not my type. Right? Yeah, of course. I just had a crazy dream cause I need to find someone to have actual sex with, at least I'm pretty sure that's what my body is telling me.

Clary is still staring at me waiting for me to explain, it's only been a couple of minutes I think, because the passengers in our car are still getting off the train. I take a deep breath and then look her in the eyes, yep just a weird dream. Yes, I love her and always will but my dick didn't react at all so I need to stop having a break down and get my shit together, right now. "Sorry, the nightmare just freaked me out. I umm, was being held _down_ ( _sort of, she doesn't need to know how, or what part of my body was actually being '_ held') and I just couldn't take the contact right then. Actually I think it's still bothering me a bit so I might be a little jumpy, might be best not to touch me for a while."

She looks at me like I've just said I'm from Saturn and I've been sent her to study her race and now I'm going to my spaceship to return home, that fucking crazy yeah. Finally she shrugs and tosses me my bag, grabs hers and strides past me off the train. I've got to rush to catch up to her.

"Hey, you're not mad at me are you?" I ask quietly. She turns her head slightly to look at me, "No, Alec I'm not mad at you, but I am a little worried when you start shoving me into the floor and jumping away from me."

What, I can't believe I shoved her that hard. Jesus, I'm an asshole, to my best friend no less. "Clare bear, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize I knocked you down. Are you hurt?"

"You didn't knock me down getting up Alec; you shoved me into the floor. I hit the floor well before you jumped out of your seat."

I look at her and assess the slightly furrowed brow and narrowed eyes, she knows I'm not telling her something and she's pissed about it. But I can't tell her this, it would freak her out and she'd read too much into it. This is going to cause a problem for our night out if I can't get her to forget it. "I think all this graduation stuff is catching up with me you know. I was just thinking about how my dad isn't even going to show up tomorrow, and who knows about my mom. I guess you were right and there is a little more pain there then I originally thought." I feel so bad about exaggerating the truth with her, and basically lying to my best friend in the whole world, but I can't tell her this, EVER.

I see guilt flooding into her eyes and now I feel like a complete ass, but at least she's never going to have to find out about that creepy nightmare. She smiles sadly at me and lays her hand gently on my arm to comfort me. "Alec I know you got the shit end of the deal when it comes to parents, but you never have to worry about whether you have a family who loves and supports you. Your sister, and every single one of the Morgenstern-Garraway's are in your corner always, and we all love you unconditionally."

It's official I've hit rock bottom, I'm now the worst friend ever. I didn't deserve her before this, now I don't think I deserve to even be breathing the same air as her. She trusts me implicitly and I just used that to lie to her and conceal something from her. She tells me everything, and I'm hiding a fictitious nightmare scenario that would never happen anyway. Geez, I'm gonna crack under all this guilt.

 **AN: Yeah, no, I'm not putting them together this early. It's way too early, but I've got to start setting the stage right?**


	7. Chapter 6

**AN: Okay, peeps this one is a tiny bit longer, just over 2K words. I checked my stats for this story and was amazed that it had over 1K views. Wow! I'm glad that some seem to enjoy my little story. So, thank you for that!**

 **Now, I'm hoping some of you will start reviewing and letting me know what you think, or how I could improve; the plot, the structure, grammar, anything at all. Constructive criticism is welcome. Any haters out there don't waste your breath, because all a crazy judgmental rant will do is make me laugh.**

 **This chapter is the 'intro' of the club scene, we will see more of the club from a different POV in the next chapter. Things will heat up more there. I'll try to get that chapter up soon.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with the Mortal Instruments, this is just me playing with the characters Cassie created that I can't seem to let go of.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 6:**

The sidewalk outside of the club is packed with young beautiful people all dressed to attract maximum attention. It's loud and getting louder the closer we get to the doors, but I can still hear the excited chatter all around us of those waiting to get through the doors. There's an occasional flirtatious giggle and husky laughter of those trying to 'seal the deal' before there hook-up for the night goes into the club and finds a new interest. It's all so cliché, but I have to admit the buzz from the alcohol I consumed, well chugged is probably more accurate, is making it all rather enjoyable.

Some of it is so tragic that it actual is funny to my alcoholic mind. Like the geeky guy two back from us who keeps dropping hints that he's loaded, and the closer we get to the door the more obvious those comments become. The blonde on his arm seems to be interested, if only for the promise of a free bar tab for the night. The geek has his eyes glued to her boobs, and his hand on her back is steadily sliding further down towards her ass. This place is like a meat market, and we're all looking for the right cut to take home for the night. Clary jerks up to check out what I'm snickering about when I lean down, and whisper in her ear, "meat market, heh heh, get it."

"Alec, how much of that vodka did you drink? You kind of just licked my ear while yelling about a meat market."

"Damn, did I lick you? Oops! Oh, hey look the lines moving!" I see the bouncer from the door walking down the line towards us and I immediately straighten up. Clary would never forgive me for getting us bounced before we even made it through the door.

He pauses right in front of us, narrows his eyes for a second before leaning over the rope and asking, "Hey, you two together?"

Clary gives him a blinding smile before she leans forward a little to answer, I noticed the bouncers eyes dropped to her chest and lick his lips before he looked her in the eyes again. "No, we aren't together. He's gay."

The bouncer momentarily looks relieved before he switches back to 'Mr. Professional' and tells us, "Follow me."

Could this guy be more obvious, it's kind of pathetic if you really think about it. What does he expect, Clary to follow him to some dark corner on his break and have sex against a wall? Fucking prick. Whoa, maybe the vodka chugging wasn't such a good idea. I think I might be an aggressive drunk on that shit, and now we're heading into a club where there are sure to be all kinds of confrontations going on, great.

Clary was practically vibrating with her excitement, she loved to dance and she was always a happy drunk. Yeah, she slammed back a good amount of whiskey before we left the apartment, enough that I'm surprised that she can walk in those stilettos. This was supposed to be a fun relaxing get-away for us to celebrate and now I'm wondering if I'm going to have a damn panic attack trying not to get thrown out of here for losing my shit.

Blissfully unaware of my emotional turmoil because of her inebriated state, Clary's ewing and awing as we enter the club. Of course I'm trying to fake an interest for her sake, but I don't know how long I can fool her about my suddenly foul mood. I think I just need to get out of my head, but now that I'm over analyzing everything I don't know how.

"Hey Alec let's go dance, I love this song!" She's so close to me right now I can see the slightly drunken glaze in her eyes, and I know that I can't abandon her to those idiots on the dance floor, but I also can't tolerate the crush of that crowd right now.

"Why don't you go warm up without me, and I'll claim us a table; I'll be right out after I order us something to drink?" I hate letting her go into that horde alone, but I needed a minute at least to catch my breath and try to calm myself down. She didn't seem to mind the idea of going it alone, but then again even sober she's rarely ever been intimidated by anything other than an angry Jocelyn.

I watched her sashay towards the dance floor and get swept into the crowd right away. At least she's having a good time. I sighed and turned towards the tables lining the walls around the club. They were shrouded in darkness of course, making it difficult to see if there were any empty tables to stake a claim on. With no choice but to wade into the mass of people who were busy surveying their options for a one night stand, I weaved my way towards the outside edge where I could see the tables and their occupants. As I walked by several of the tables I noticed some weren't even waiting to get a room, they were engaging in various levels of sexual gratification right here for anyone to see. Who needs porn when you can come to a club?

It's pathetic to me how so many people make such a big deal out of identifying and labeling anyone who isn't heterosexual and then some of those same people are out here basically having sex in public. Hello irony! I glanced back towards the dance floor to try and catch a glimpse of my girl to make sure she's okay only to realize she's having the time of her life. Somehow she's made her way to the center of the throng and she's got her head back, tossing her hair and grinding on a couple of different people happily. There seems to be a number of people who are also watching my best friend, men and women alike. She does seem to draw the eye with her sexy dress and her sensual manner. She's never understood the appeal she has, in her mind she's fairly plain, and she just doesn't pay attention. Even in jeans and a t-shirt she draws plenty of interest.

Spotting a table near the back corner I push past grinding couples and staggering drunks to finally reach the only empty table only to look up and realize that someone else had made their way over to it while I was fighting through the crowd. He was shockingly bright in such a dark corner. He had on a bright blue button up with black leather pants accented with the same blue in various places. His midnight black hair was gelled into spikes that were tipped in the same blue. This guy has a thing for blue, except of course his makeup. He had a smoky eye with jet black eye shadow and glitter lining his lids. He was definitely making a statement and it was quite clear what it was, 'check me out'. So of course I had to oblige. He was quite handsome with unusually green eyes, full lips, fine bone structure, and a beautiful bronze tan. He held himself with such confidence even while hiding out in a dark corner; it was quite an appealing package. So I went ahead with my original plan, taking a seat at that table.

"Excuse me, is anyone else sitting here?"I finished with what I hope was a charming smile, but who knows what it actually looked like. It's not like I had any practice flirting with anyone.

He eyed me up and down before a grin spread on his lips and his eyes held a playful glint. "No gorgeous, I'm all yours. Oops, I mean the seat is all yours." He said with a slow wink. "I'm Magnus, and you are?"

Now that I had gotten in the door, so to speak, I had no idea what to do next. Flustered I said, "Um, I'm ah Alec."

"Well Alec, did you come to have a good time with some friends?" There seemed to be an underlying meaning to that question as he looked slightly tense waiting for my response.

"Oh, um yeah I'm here with my best friend, we're just checking out the places near our new apartment before we start school in the fall." Oh dear god, why did I just tell him all of that?! That is not flirting, it's fucking tourettes, boring tourettes! My cheeks were burning slightly and I knew I had to be blushing. I couldn't look him in the eye.

He laid his hand over mine resting on the table top until I peeked up at him, and then he smiled before saying, "Well I'm glad to know you'll be around here more often. This place could certainly use a few more sexy men hanging around."

I was grateful he ignored my word vomit, but a little embarrassed still. Did he really think I was sexy, or was he just taking pity on me? Glancing up I could see just how serious he was, he was leaning towards me with a smoldering look on his face and I couldn't help what came next. I leaned over and kissed his lips, and damn were they soft. Holy shit, what the hell did I just do?! This guy probably thinks I'm psycho; I go from telling him my life story to kissing him randomly. When I pulled away from the kiss, I started to just run from the table. Before I could turn fully around in the chair he had grabbed my collar and yanked me back towards him.

With a teasing grin and a lusty gleam in his eye he said, "Now, now Alec nobody likes a tease. You can't offer a sample and then run, it's très rude." As soon as he was finished uttering the last word he was kissing me. This time he took control, his mouth was forcing mine to move in ways that I didn't know it could, and God was it intoxicating. The tip of his tongue glided across my bottom lip and without a thought my lips parted, and his tongue twirled around mine engaging it in the most pleasurable battle. I was lost in the moment until my bottom rib started protesting against the sharp edge of the table top, I broke away breathless and just stared at the gorgeous man across from me.

"You want to join me on this side; I promise I'll make it worth the effort." He waggled his brows at me in a teasing way and then gave me a sexy smile. Yep, I'm going for it. For once in my life I'm going to enjoy myself and make out with a sexy as hell man, who for some unknown reason wants me.

I wasted no time skirting around the table and hopping into the other bar stool beside him. In the next moment we were pulling each other into a heated and spellbinding kiss. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders pulling me closer. I had one hand on his leg balancing myself and the other was gripping the back of his neck. I didn't know if I was doing that to keep him from pulling away or to ground myself, because I was quickly loosing myself in him. He didn't seem to mind at all based on the way he softly moaned. When I heard his moan I decided right then that I wanted to hear it again, and would do anything to make that happen.

I slowly started to smooth my hand on his thigh up and down stroking his leg; he scooted closer to the edge of his seat. A wild thought flew through my head then, 'maybe those people getting all over each other in the club were the smart ones'. I chased the thought away when Magnus pulled back enough only to nibble on my bottom lip. All thought was abandoned when his hands started roaming my body, as much as he could reach in our slightly awkward position. This was definitely turning out to be a great night.

 **AN: Just a reminder the next chapter will have a bit more zest, yay citrus :) Please leave a review, let me know what you think.**


	8. Chapter 7

**AN: I hadn't planned to update today. I'm having one of the most stressful days of my life, my husband is having surgery and I tried everything to stop my worrying and outbursts of crying, but nothing was working. So I turned to my writing to get out of my own head. It worked somewhat, at least far better than anything else. I guess anger, fear, and anxiety are great for writing and writers; funny cause I always thought that was BS.**

 **Thank you to my guest reviewer from last chapter, I appreciate the lovely review. :)**

 **Editing might not be the best. If you spot anything let me know, and please review whether you spot errors or not.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with the Mortal Instruments I just can't seem to let go of Cassie's Characters.**

 **BTW Chapter 8 is finished pretty much, it's more of Jace's POV. I'm holding the chapter ransom until I get some reviews. No set amount as a goal, just review people. I admit I haven't reviewed every single chapter I've read on here, but for nearly all, I review after reading. It's a lot of work to write and it's sharing a lot of yourself to post it for everyone to see. So review please. :)**

 **Enjoy!**

Chapter 7:

Clary POV:

I couldn't believe how much fun I was having, or how hot it was in this club. Thankfully I chose the thinner and shorter dress for tonight; otherwise I might have a damn heat stroke. But, it would be so worth it. I've not felt this free in a while, grinding to the music flowing through the air and my body, I felt it as all the tension of the past week drained from me. I wish Alec could would get his ass out here, but I understand that this doesn't always do the same for him as it does for me. Sometimes he actually gets more tense from a night of drinking and dancing. It's so bizarre how he'll get all bent out of shape over some dancing. Hopefully he's relaxing at least. God Clary you're pulling an Alec and over thinking everything while you've got some hot as hell boys and girls to just have some damn fun with.

The girl in front of me grinding on my thigh is pretty fucking hot; she looks like she's a little bit Asian with beautiful almond shaped brown eyes she's accented with gold shadow complimenting her naturally tanned skin. She has full lips, delicate bone structure, and silky black hair that falls in pin straight locks down her back just brushing past her shoulder blades with a crown of braided hair keeping it all away from her face, she looks like a runway model in her tight gold dress. I'm a little jealous of how smooth her straight her is and the black color is reflecting the lights making her kind of glow. I can't resist stretching my arms over her shoulders and running my fingers through it occasionally. Every time I do she gives me a sly smile like she knows exactly what I'm thinking. She leans forward and her lips brush my ear as she talks loudly enough to be heard over the music, "You're fucking hot as hell, but I have a girlfriend. Although we are a little open in our relationship, she might lose her shit if she sees me getting too friendly with someone who looks as sexy as you."

I can't help but blush a little at the compliment, even if it was just a nice way to turn down any interest I might have in more than dancing. "Oh I'm sure someone as beautiful as you would have someone in your life."

She winks at me and shifts a little closer at my compliment. I'm not that into girls, but I have to admit from time to time after a bit of drinking and some dancing I've made out with a few. Girls know exactly how to kiss me to maximize my pleasure and their skin and lips always seem a little softer. So I'm into kissing them at least, I don't know if I'm ever going to go further with another girl but I never say never. The guy behind me seems to be in a trance from our conversation and the soft touches we are exchanging, he's barely moving enough to be called dancing and he's just kind of holding my hips at this point while eavesdropping on anything he can. I can't help the giggle that escapes my mouth thinking about how ridiculous guys can be when they think two girls are going to make out in front of them. I mean it's just kissing and there are plenty of people all over the club kissing.

Feeling a little devious I decide to tease the guy just for the hell of it, plus I wouldn't mind finding out if, Aline, the girl I'm dancing with is as good a kisser as she as a dancer. I pull her a little closer and lean up slightly until my lips can brush her ear, "Hey you want to put on a little show for her, get her a little jealous and a lot turned on. Could be some phenomenal sex later tonight, for you both"

She had to turn her neck at an awkward angle and lean down so I could hear her, "Hmm, what did you have in mind?"

"I was thinking some light to heavy kissing and we could go from there." I pulled back then to give her my own sly smile and a wink. I knew she wanted to kiss me from her earlier comment and the way she kept turning me to grind with her anytime I had tried to dance with someone else. It was just a question of whether her girlfriend would appreciate the show more than she would be angry about Aline kissing someone else.

She looked me in the eyes then, and turned to find her girlfriend off to the side with a drink in hand. She nodded towards me while maintaining eye contact with her girlfriend. I turned slightly to see what the verdict was; her girlfriend looked me over and then smiled a beautifully sensual smile before giving a slight nod.

Aline let out a breath and said, "Fuck yes", before turning back to me in a flash and grabbing the back of my head while simultaneously pressing her lips to mine in a heated kiss that took my breath away. It was nearly violent in its urgency, primal was the only description that truly fit this kiss. Her free hand slid from my waist down my body knocking the now completely still nameless guy's hand off my hip on her way to my ass. She grabbed me firmly and with a squeeze of my ass she pulled my body flush against hers, all the while we were still rhythmically grinding to the music.

She tasted like strawberry and coconut from her drinks earlier in the evening and I had to admit it was delicious combination that I was definitely enjoying. She nipped my lower lip gently and I opened my mouth to invite her in, actually I was ready to beg her 'really' kiss me. Aline didn't waste any more time, and she thrust her tongue roughly into my mouth owning it with a passion that surprised me. I guess my earlier teasing was getting to her as much as it was getting to the guy who was now likely a statue behind us.

As we were kissing so fervently I lost track of everything around me, damn she could kiss. Finally I had to break the kiss, or risk passing out on the dance floor from lack of oxygen. Aline wasn't done yet apparently as she moved to my neck nipping and tonguing the soft bites all the way up to my ear where she bit down on my ear lobe before whispering in my ear breathily, "God, if I knew you kissed that well I would have done that half an hour ago when I first spotted you."

I laughed softly at her enthusiasm; she wasn't the only one impressed. I pulled back and gave the only reply I could, "I wouldn't mind doing that again if your girlfriend wouldn't maim me, but I think it might be pushing her a little too far past teasing to just plain pissed off."

Aline laughed and nodded her agreement, apparently she thought it would be risky too. "Yeah, we should let her cool down first; maybe we could all get a drink together."

She waited for me to agree before grabbing my hand and pulling me along behind her towards her girlfriend and hopefully more drinks for all of us.

Jace POV:

Getting into the club was easy as always, I breezed past the line and walked up to Bat, the bouncer on the door and gave him a nod as I ducked inside. He returned the nod just before I disappeared into the crowd just beyond the interior doors.

Damn this place is packed, its more than the usual Friday night crowd in here. I had forgotten that most of the high schools had let the students out for the year, so I was going to have to watch out for the young girls tonight. I marched up to the bar and ordered a whiskey to get me started.

Leaning back against the bar to survey my options for the night, there was always the usual crowd of easy prey prancing around the edges of the dance floor and grinding promiscuously at the edges of the floor, making sure the bar and room could see them I'm sure. Not feeling like dealing with the generic sluts who might be an easy one off, but a lousy lay, I focused on the new comers.

There were a lot to choose from, but some of them looked way to young, the younger girls were always a bit more trouble than they were worth. I certainly didn't want to end up with a virgin in my bed, God that would be a nightmare. As I perused the options available I caught a glimpse of fiery red hair out on the dance floor. I couldn't see much else but I hadn't had a red head in my bed in a very long time, maybe never, at least not a natural red head. I stalked closer to the dance floor and leaned against a support beam ignoring all of the flirty smiles and winks on my way there.

When I finally got a clear view of the red head I was enthralled watching her dance with a pretty Asian girl. They were lost in each other grinding and giving each other alluring smiles that hinted at the sexual tension building out on that dance floor. She was pure sex; a body that took my breath away and made my cock twitch, the face of an Angel, and eyes that captivated anyone they graced with a look. God, that beautiful red hair fell in a waterfall of gorgeous curls down to the small of her back, bringing the eye down to that perfectly rounded ass. I knew I had to have her, tonight.


	9. Chapter 8

**AN: Thank you for the reviews; Emotionless - Ash, Mina Lisly, and Reppinda5o3. I also need to thank Serene Calamity for the lovely PM, all of the reviews and/or messages meant a lot to me, especially this week.**

 **My husband is doing much better, thank you for the well wishes, those were very sweet and helped me in some of the scariest moments of my life.**

 **Okay, now unto the business of writing/reading. Chapter 8 is here! Excuse the quick edit job, I'm sure I've missed some things and please feel free to point them out. Please read and review.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with the Mortal Instruments, I just can't let go of Cassie's amazing characters.**

 **Chapter 8:**

That dress she was wearing accentuated every stunning attribute of her body. It was a deep green color that nearly matched her eyes, low cut with a sort of push up top that looked like a combination of a bustier and a corset. It cinched at the waist showing off her narrow waist line and pulled together just under her breasts, and then the cups seemed to lift under really pushing up the cleavage. The bottom of the dress was form fitting and short, falling just above mid thigh allowing her surprisingly long legs to be on full display. She was toned and perfectly curved in all the right places and that dress made it impossible not to see. Her dance moves were sexually suggestive and she was garnering a lot of attention, from just about everyone, not that I blame them. I surely couldn't seem to pull my eyes away from her, not that I wanted to.

As I finished my survey of her appearance and her dancing I couldn't help some of the thoughts jumping to the forefront of my mind; like how great that dress was going to look on my floor or hers, I wasn't picky. How my hands would probably engulf that tiny waist, or how great those long legs would look wrapped around my waist or my head, I wasn't ruling out anything tonight. I couldn't wait to be able to run my hands over her body and my eyes over every inch of her bared and breathless. God, I was getting a little too worked up to be standing alone in a club. Apparently, I wasn't the only one she had that affect on though.

The guy behind her was so turned on he couldn't even dance; he was really just standing there gawking at the girls. They seemed to realize they had some attention and were putting on a bit of a show now. I don't think they realized how large their audience really was, or they might have been a little embarrassed, then again maybe they would have put on more of a show. Neither girl was acting very shy with the other, no matter that they were on a public dance floor. Wait, maybe I spoke too soon, I noticed the red head had a slight blush from something her dance partner said. Oh she's got a naughty smile now, contradicting the blush entirely. It's amazing how attractive that contradictory look is on her face. She leaned into the other girl and whispered something apparently alluring based on the way the Asian girl's mouth dropped open slightly. Hell this is better than porn, there is so much sexual tension building that I think you'd need a chainsaw to cut it.

The dark haired girl looked off to the side of the dance floor at something or someone, she looked like she was asking for permission for something, but my eyes were glued to the temptress in green. She looked like she was anxiously anticipating something and that really had my curiosity peaked. Then without warning the dark haired girl grabbed the object of my desire and engaged in one of the most passionate and needy kisses I've ever witnessed. God, that is almost enough to have me coming in my pants like a preteen. The way the darker haired girl was grabbing a hold of my siren I could tell all she wanted to do was drag her off to a dark corner or a hotel room. When they finally broke apart the dark haired girl apparently hadn't had enough of her so she continued her assault on her neck. I can't say that I blame her. I'm several feet away and I'm barely able to hold back from grabbing the red head like a cave man and carting her off to have my way with her.

Clearly enchanted with the red head, the dark haired girl grabbed her hand and brought her with her towards the edge of the dance floor where they met up with a petite blonde sipping on one of those God awful fruity drinks. The brunette and the blonde shared a kiss before the three headed towards the bar. Seeing a chance to break the red head away from the group, or at least round it out into an even number, I headed after them to the bar. When I reached the corner of the bar I saw the red head sipping on what looked like a whiskey, my kind of girl. The other two were enjoying more of those nasty fruity drinks and alternating between giving each other love struck looks and eyeing up the red head with unabated lust. I swaggered up next to the group and flagged down the bartender to freshen up my drink.

Ignoring the group didn't seem to work; apparently the couple, I decided the blonde and brunette had to be together, were so into the red head they were keeping her engaged in conversation almost constantly. Deciding a more direct approach was necessary I turned to introduce myself to the ladies. The red head and the blonde seemed to be more accepting of my sudden appearance, the brunette stared daggers at me. Oh yeah, you've got competition for taking the sexy goddess home, so deal with it. The blonde introduced herself and the brunette as Helen and Aline, not that I cared much what their names were, they were, after all, vying for the same girls attention as me. When the red head finally opened her mouth to introduce herself I gave her my undivided attention. "Hi, I'm Clary. What's your name?"

Her voice was lilting and just as beautiful as her appearance. For a second I just enjoyed the cadence and smiled at the beautiful girl before deciding that if I didn't speak now it would be rude and not the best start to getting the sexy vixen to come home with me. "Hi beautiful, I'm Jace. What brings you to the club tonight?" Better engage her in conversation now, before _Aline_ has a chance to suggest they 'get out of there'.

She smiled at me and I swear I was hearing Angels singing, her lips were luscious and her eyes practically glowed. I admit I was a bit mesmerized by this mini Aphrodite, but I definitely wasn't the only one. I could see Aline giving me the evil eye in my peripheral vision. I would have laughed if it wasn't for Clary opening her mouth to answer me.

"Oh, my best friend and I just graduated; so we came into the city to check out our new apartment and see what fare was available nearby." She smiled again, this time with warmth I knew had nothing to do with any of us, she must be thinking of her best friend. Well that will complicate things for me a bit, if they are that close the BFF might put a wrinkle in getting her to leave with me. Good thing I love a challenge.

"Congratulations, which college did you attend?" I didn't mean for the question to be funny, but apparently with a little whiskey in my audience's hand I'm fucking hilarious. She was giggling so hard I was growing concerned she might faint for lack of oxygen.

"No, no. We didn't graduate from college; apparently I look older in this lighting. We graduated from high school in upstate New York. We're moving to the city for college, NYU." She was still a little out of breath from her giggling fit so everything she said came out a little breathy. And I'll be damned if it didn't distract me from the fact that she was a teenager for a moment. Shit, how did I end up flirting with a teenager. Oh, that's right I let my dick lead me. Great job, you got me into trouble again!

I wanted to run, knew I needed to run like hell from her, but damn it I couldn't. Young or not, she was a fucking goddess and I wanted her, no I needed her. Needed her in a way that I hadn't needed anyone in a while. She had every single brain cell misfiring, and every single instinct begging me to grab her and run back to my place. Fuck it, if I end up getting murdered by an angry father it will be worth it, I'll die happy and without blue balls.

"Oh I apologize, I didn't mean to presume, I just noticed the drink and thought you were a bit older. How old are you anyway, if I may ask?" I threw in the last part hoping she would overlook my rude ass behavior. I had to know that she was at least eighteen or if I was going to have to grab one of these other girls and fuck them with my eyes closed so I could at least imagine it was my fiery temptress.

She blushed slightly at the mention of her drink, and perhaps at being put on the spot for her age. I actually felt bad for doing it, but as I said I needed to be sure of her being at least legal.

"I'm eighteen, I'll be nineteen when college classes begin this fall." There seemed to be a bit of grit in her statement, as if she expected a comment on her young age and was ready to lash out if necessary. Honestly though I couldn't be more elated. I can have her, and I will have her. Now I just need to smooth over the awkward discussion about her age.

"How old are you, I didn't take you for more than twenty?" Her voice held a bit of challenge with that question. Excellent, she had spunk. Usually that translated into real passion in bed, and everything I'd already seen on the dance floor told me she had sensuality to spare.

"I am twenty, good eye. I actually just celebrated my birthday a few weeks ago. I'm enrolled at NYU myself, pre-law." I waited to see if she was going to be glad that we would be in the same school, or angry with me still for the clumsy ass way I asked her age.

She seemed to hesitate for a moment before she smiled finally and said she looked forward to seeing me around campus. Good, I hadn't cheated myself out of having a night of what was sure to be fantastic sex with Aphrodite incarnate.

"Would you like to dance?" I asked with my most charming tone and an appealing sexy smirk, hoping she would abandon Aline and forget our awkwardness.

"Um; sure, why not. I did come to have a good time, and I love to dance." Not exactly the type of response I was accustomed to receiving, but right now I'd take it. She turned to start working her way to the dance floor, when I stopped her with a hand to her forearm and I swear I felt a shock when I touched her, but maybe that was the whiskey's affect. I downed the rest of my drink and went to properly escort her to the dance floor. Grabbing her small hand I led the way out onto the floor.

As soon as we reached the edge of the floor I could see her hips swinging with a sashay in her walk. Yeah, she definitely loved to dance. She was already trying to move to the music before we even reached our destination. Which was going to work in my favor, while we were dancing I could lay the groundwork for taking her home. Usually I never had to put this much thought into who I was taking home, or how I was going to get there, but this girl had a line of people waiting for me to cock up and she didn't seem to be immediately enraptured by the sight of me. That was both intriguing and annoying as hell. It was certainly going to make the night more interesting.

 **AN: Yep, still in the club; but don't worry things are heating up and we will be leaving the club soon. I just want to do the first meet justice. Thanks for reading, and please review.**


	10. Betrayed by Technology

**AN: So, this sucks but my (not-so-trusty) laptop has went on the disabled list. Which wouldn't be a big deal by itself, but I did a huge bad, bad deed...I trusted my laptop to keep working, so I never backed up my files.**

 **The good news is, the files are not lost and my laptop is not ready for the techno graveyard it just needs some parts ordered. Those may take a couple of weeks, (hopefully, but you can never trust sellers "off" amazon) and then I will be picking right back up.**

 **For now I am working on my dinosaur laptop from school. It's horrible and overheats, but at least I can type on a screen bigger than my palm. Just in case it decides to commit suicide on me too, we have a few desktops here at home, and several tablets too, so silver lining there. Yes, yes, I know that it was incredibly stupid of me not to share the file at least on my home network. 'Live and Learn', right?**

 **Anyway, if it looks like we are going to cross into three weeks I'll try to recreate the next chapter from memory and we'll go from there. Till then, all I can say is; while laughing and pointing (rightfully so, at my ignorant shame) learn from my blunder, back up to the cloud people, or google drive, or microsoft one drive. Damn, it's kind of pathetic that there are all of those available and I'm stuck because I can't** ** _ACCESS_** **my document. Ah the shame, it burns so bad :(**


	11. Chapter 9

**AN: Sorry for the delay, I lost access to my original doc and had to recreate from memory. This is seriously unedited, I just wanted to get something out since it's been so long. HOPEFULLY, I'll get access to my original document back in the next couple of days. I hate recreations, but you gotta deal with it from time to time when you fail to cover your own ass. LOL**

 **Please review, if you see errors (which you are really likely to) please point those out and I'll try to edit those later. Either way though, please review. It helps to get feedback.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with the Mortal Instruments, I just can't let go of Cassie's amazing characters. :)**

Chapter 9:

Jace's POV

As I pulled her body flush with mine I couldn't help but notice the glare aimed in my direction from several locations in the bar. I barely contained my laugh, but managed to pull off a simple smirk just as Aphrodite locked curious eyes with me. How this girl could be completely clueless about the impact she was having on the crowd at large was beyond me, but it was clear that she didn't really notice the allure she held.

With her eyes still locked on mine she took the lead, shocking the hell out of me. She slid one slim hand up my arm straight around to the back of my neck, then grabbing one of my hands she dragged it down her side and around to grip what could only be described as the top of her ass. We were way past hip when I could extend my fingers and feel the bottom of her dress, but it's not like I was going to complain either way. She released my hand and brought hers around between us just to rake her fingers up my chest while she simultaneously slipped her leg between mine and began grinding her hips flush against my dick and I could feel the warmth from her body as she grinded on my thigh.

My god, she's fucking perfect. She's grinding on my thigh in time with the music and it was so damn erotic that all the while she was staring in my eyes, challenging me to bring my game. For a moment, at least I hope it was only a moment I was nearly as frozen as the dumb ass that'd stood behind her on the dance floor earlier. When she reached up and breathily whispered, "I thought you were going to dance with me, or do I need to go back to the girls?" I snapped out of my trance, time to show her what this night could do for both of us.

I tightened my hand on her ass, sliding it lower so I could encourage her grinding while I slid my dominate hand up to her rib cage holding her firmly against me, allowing my fingers to graze the side of her breast when the time was right. I leaned in and took my first inhale of her heady scent while I breathed against her ear lobe, "Oh we are going to dance, and before the night is over you won't even remember there is another person in this bar."

She pulled back enough to give me what looked to be a combination of an amused and challenging gaze, biting her lower lip before she leaned in towards my face. I couldn't help it when my breath froze, waiting for her to kiss me. When her lips ghosted over my chin, jaw, and then stopped just next to my ear lobe to whisper, "Promises, promises." I was a little mad at myself, but far more turned on. Of course, Aphrodite had no intention of giving in so easily; I was going to have to earn everything with her. Not something I have ever had to do, but I think the challenge of it all was actually making it more erotic. I was definitely going to enjoy the challenge.

She moved fluidly against me for the rest of the song, her breast pressed tightly against my chest, so much so, that all I had to do was glance down and I could almost see the soft rose of her nipple. Her hands would rake up and down my body pulling my hair enough to force my vision straight to see the soft swells, all while her pelvis rocked against my thigh. Damn vixen, she would follow the teasing glimpses by grazing my balls with her thigh, just enough pressure to let me know that she knew very well where her leg was pressed.

As the first song was coming to an end she hiked her leg, spread over my thigh, up to my hip and twisting her body using my shoulders as leverage so that as she lowered she glided down my still slightly bent leg. I could feel her trying to guide my body so that she could stay just off center of me and continue to keep the light teasing touches she had been delivering all through the first song. I'd had enough with light and teasing, and it was time that she got a little of her own medicine.

I gave her a lascivious grin and slow wink, "Uh uh, my turn vixen." Grasping her hips firmly I took a half step back so that I could open my hips a little wider and drag her back against me. With our bodies flush once again I noticed how she lined up perfectly against me so that I could still reach all of the erogenous zones without having to bend awkwardly, her firm ass and rounded hips fit just inside the lines of my own hips. As the music started its final transition into the new I had her firmly pressed against my already semi hard erection, no doubt soon to be fully hard. I just had to get her going faster than I excited myself. Normally this wouldn't be a concern; she just seemed to be living up to my moniker, Aphrodite indeed.

We grinded against each other with increasing force and friction as the song began, and I realized I was going to have to risk pushing her away to get us back to the same level of hedonistic abandon. Simultaneously, I glided one hand up to cup her upper rib cage and the other down to the inner part of her thigh and hip. I lowered my mouth to her neck and began nibbling along the juncture of her neck and shoulder straight up to her ear lobe, which I captured alternating between nibbling and sucking lightly all the way up. Just behind her ear I gave a soft suck and felt her react almost violently, grinding back into me and arching her back just enough to drive one hand lower towards her hem line and the other almost over her breast. I couldn't help the grin that I know she felt spread against her heated skin. Although she either didn't care at all, or chose to ignore it as she rolled her head to my shoulder allowing me not only better access, but a clear view of her cleavage heaving with each labored breath she dragged in.

Grazing my thumb over her erect nipple I hummed against her skin before asking her, "Did you like that vixen, would you like more?" I was surprised not to recognize my own voice, it had a breathy husky quality I don't ever recall hearing before but I wasn't about to waste time contemplating that right now.

Her response brought me back to the question I had almost forgotten I'd asked, "Mmmmhmm." Was her purred response, the purr pushed me semi hard to granite. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up this teasing much longer so I had to make every move count.

I rolled her head towards me with my shoulder and captured her lips in the first heated kiss, and my god, Aphrodite had a talented mouth. I was so lost thinking about her oral skill and where else I might get to feel it that I almost forgot where my hand was resting flush against her breast. Pulling back slightly to give me a measure of control again I rolled my thumb around her pert nipple through the thin material of her dress I'm sure it almost fell like skin on skin to her. She shuddered against me before turning suddenly and grabbing a handful of my hair and sucking my tongue straight out of my mouth, rolling her own against it. Holy Hell there was no way to mistake the message behind that, and I was silently praying that she was going to deliver on the promise.

When she finally released my tongue I realized her hand had crept under my shirt and her finger tips were now grazing along my jeans waistband. I yanked her back for a ferocious lewd kiss nibbling her lower lip before I pulled away just enough to make direct eye contact.

"Your place, or mine vixen?" My breathing was nearly violent at this point and I knew that if we didn't leave this damn dance floor was going to be the scene of the first voyeuristic sexual encounter for me, that or I was going to end up blowing in my pants in reality.

"Well, before I take you to mine I'd like to know whether showing a stranger where I live is going to be worth it." She said challengingly.

My jaw went a little slack at that, seriously she practically put on a soft porn show and now she's being cautious? Then I noticed that she was giving me yet another teasing challenging smile, with her eyes half lidded and pupils blown wide it wasn't quite as challenging as it was teasing, but fine I'd play.

"If you're worried about me not delivering, I promise I'll have you screaming all night if that's what you want. If it's about not wanting to show me to your place, we could always go to mine."

She seemed satisfied with my answer, "How far is your place?"

"Are you in a hurry Vixen?" I couldn't stop the cocky grin if my life depended on it.

"Not at all stud, just wondering how long your walk of shame will be tomorrow." She replied with a wink.

"Men don't walk home in shame, they strut Vix."

She laughed loudly at that, and grabbed my hand leading us through the crowd. I noticed quickly we were going in the wrong direction to leave and tried to pull her to a stop. "Hey Vixen, the door is the other way. How much have you had to drink tonight?" I'm really hoping she's not plastered, I can't do the drunk lay, and it always ends badly.

When she laughed again and yelled over her shoulder, "No kidding stud, we're swinging by my besties table before we leave. No matter how hot you might be, I'm not just ditching him."

Him, what the fuck? Her bff is a guy; he's got to be either in love with her or gay. I'm really praying for the latter. I don't need a love sick puppy trying to pull a cock block, I might seriously lose it on the guy if I get this close and loose out now.

"How about I go settle my tab while you check in, I'll be right at the corner of the bar there?" I didn't like the idea of abandoning her to all the lusty eyes following her every move, but I figured it would be better to have to fight off a stranger rather than a possibly love sick best friend.

"Okay, I'll just be a minute. He must have found someone to keep him busy, so he probably won't want me hanging around for more than a few seconds anyway." Her casual response and sultry smile gave me some reassurance as I watched her start off towards the back tables.

I pushed through the crowd as quickly as I could, settled my tab and then searched out my Aphrodite. It didn't take long to find her brilliant red hair; of course I could have followed the trail of wagging tongues straight to her. She was chatting with a dark haired guy currently wrapped up in a very glittery man next to him. Well, at least I didn't have to worry about dealing with a cock block from the bff.

I watched as she turned towards me raised her arm and then kissed the dark haired more subdued guy on the lips, what the fuck?! Before she turned around and started making her way towards me.

As soon as she was close enough to reach I grabbed her hand and pulled her alongside me as we made our way to the door. The internal debate about whether I should mention the kiss was futile, clearly she was taking me home and the guy was obviously with another man. I just couldn't shake the feeling that the kiss was a little much considering they were both obviously taking other people home. Shaking my head I pushed the thought out and guided her towards my car. I had to remember that she was indeed bringing me home, I just hope that if that guy is coming back to her place he likes to listen to her scream someone else's name.

 **Last of the club scene for Clace. I know that I have been avoiding Clary's POV a lot, but that is going to be true for most of this story. I will use her POV again at certain points, but I like leaving her a bit mysterious to the readers. We will be checking back in with Alec next chapter so don't worry, I haven't forgotten him.**


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